First Isolation and Structure Elucidation of GDNT‐β‐Glu – Tetraether Lipid Fragment from Archaeal Sulfolobus Strains

• Published in: ChemistryOpen (Weinheim) Vol. 10; no. 9; pp. 889 - 895
• Main Authors: Scholte, Alexander, Hübner, Christoph, Ströhl, Dieter, Scheufler, Olaf, Czich, Steffen, Börke, Julia M., Hildebrand, Gerhard, Liefeith, Klaus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley-VCH
• Subjects: archaea; Biosynthesis; Carbon; Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Cyclization; Diglycerides - chemistry; Diglycerides - isolation & purification; Experiments; Glucose; Glycerol; Glycolipids - chemistry; Glycolipids - isolation & purification; Incorporation; Lipids; Mass Spectrometry; Membrane Lipids - chemistry; Membrane Lipids - isolation & purification; NMR; NMR spectroscopy; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Phase transitions; Spectrum analysis; Structural members; structure elucidation; Sulfolobus - chemistry; Sulfolobus - classification; tetraether lipids; mass spectrometry; structure elucidation; NMR spectroscopy; tetraether lipids; archaea
• ISSN: 2191-1363; 2191-1363
• DOI: 10.1002/open.202100154

Due to their special chemical structure, tetraether lipids (TEL) represent essential elements of archaeal membranes, providing these organisms with extraordinary properties. Here we describe the characterization of a newly isolated structural element of the main lipids. The TEL fragment GDNT‐β‐Glu was isolated from Sulfolobus metallicus and characterized in terms of its chemical structure by NMR‐ and MS‐investigations. The obtained data are dissimilar to analogically derived established structures – in essence, the binding relationships in the polar head group are re‐determined and verified. With this work, we provide an important contribution to the structure elucidation of intact TEL also contained in other Sulfolobus strains such as Solfulobus acidocaldarius and Sulfolobus solfataricus. The isolation and structure elucidation of a tetraether lipid (TEL) fragment GDNT‐β‐Glu occurring in Sulfolobus strains are described. The investigations reveal new knowledge regarding the binding relationships which is also important for the general structure determination of intact TEL.