NOVEL VERY LONG-CHAIN FATTY-ACIDS FROM THE SPONGE PETROSIA-PELLASARCA

A new series of novel very long chain phospholipid fatty acids were isolated from the Caribbean sponge Petrosia pellasarca. These new acids include the complete iso-anteiso 29:0 series, i.e., the novel 27-methyloctacosanoic acid and 26-methyloctacosanoic acid as well as the new 5,9-triacontadienoic acid [1]. The biosynthetically intriguing 19,22,25,28,31-tetratriacontapentaenoic acid [2] was also identified in P. pellasarca. These findings open up new possibilities for fatty acid biosynthesis hitherto unprecedented in terrestrial organisms and suggest a possible β-oxidation pathway deficiency in this organism, analogous to Zellweger syndrome. These phospholipid fatty acids were mainly encountered in phosphatidylethanolamine. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.