The glycosylceramides of the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans contain an unusual, branched‐chain sphingoid base

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Abstract
Caenorhabditis elegans was cultured in semi‐defined medium containing yeast extract, soy peptone, glucose, hemoglobin, Tween 80, and sitosterol. Monoglycosylceramides were chromatographically purified from nematode extracts. Their structures were elucidated with mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and analysis of methanolysis products of the parent cerebrosides. The glycosylceramides were unusual in that the only long‐chain sphingoid base detected was aniso‐branched compound with a C‐4 double bond (i.e., 15‐methyl‐2‐aminohexadec‐4‐en‐1,3‐diol). Glucose was the only sugar moiety detected. The fatty acids consisted of a series of primarily straint‐chain, saturated, 2‐hydroxylated C20–C26 acids; someiso‐branched analogs also occurred. The sphingomyelins ofC. elegans were also hydrolyzed, and the sameiso‐branched C17 compound was the only sphingoid base detected. This is the first structural analysis of a nematode glycosphingolipid and the first report of an organism in which the long‐chain sphingoid bases are entirelyiso‐branched.

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