Unique lipid composition of Treponema pallidum (Nichols virulent strain)

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Abstract
The lipid composition of Treponema pallidum (Nichols virulent strain) was determined after purification of the organisms from the infected testes of corticosteroid-treated rabbits by differential centrifugation, filtration through Nuclepore membranes, and sedimentation in Hypaque density gradients. The total lipids were comprised of 32.2% neutral lipids, mainly cholesterol, and 67.8% phospholipids consisting of phosphatidylcholine (32.1%), sphingomyelin (14.8%), cardiolipin (13.0%), phosphatidylethanolamine (6.2%), phosphatidylinositol-serine (1.2%), and lysophosphatidylcholine (0.4%). Monoglycosyldiglyceride, a glycolipid comprising 25 to 50% of thetotal lipid of all Treponema previously examined, was not detected. The fatty acid composition was similar but quntitatively distinct from that of the infected testes tissue.