Fatty acids of fungi and nematodes -: possible biomarkers in the soil food chain?

The fatty acid composition of 16 different soil fungi (ascomycetes, basidiomycetes, mitosporic fungi) and a fungal-feeding nematode Aphelenchoides sp. reared on seven fungal species was investigated. Additionally, fatty acid profiles of Aphelenchoides sp. and A. saprophilus grown on the same fungal food source, Agrocybe gibberosa, were compared. Thirteen predominant fatty acids were detected in the fungi. Most of them occurred in each of the 16 species, but relative quantities of individual fatty acids differed, in particular those of unsaturated ones. Most fungal species could be differentiated from each other on this basis. Our study revealed convergence, but also, differences, in the fatty acid composition of systematically related fungi, i.e. a taxonomic or phylogenetic relationship was not necessarily accompanied by similarity in fatty acid profiles. Nematodes comprised a wider fatty acid spectrum than fungi, with 17 predominant fatty acids, and a higher amount of long-chain, polyunsaturated acids than their fungal diet. Fungal host tissue may have supplied palmitic, oleic and linoleic acid present, whereas most of the long-chain unsaturated fatty acids were synthesized by the nematodes. Unsaturated fatty acids mainly belonged to the omega6 and 9 family, indicating a carboxyl-directed desaturation as a major metabolic pathway. The fungal host significantly affected the fatty acid profile of the nematodes. However, we could not assign individual fatty acids as biomarkers reflecting the dietary source, likely due to the considerable convergence within tested fungal species. Of the basidiomycetes analyzed Laccaria laccata was distinctly separated from the others and this difference could also be detected in the nematodes showing the influence of food type. We conclude that the lipid composition of nematodes is controlled by both the nematode and its diet and that monitoring fatty acid patterns of soil animals may therefore provide a way to detect trophic interactions in belowground food webs. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.