S-ADENOSYLMETHIONINE IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF BACTERIAL FATTY ACIDS

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Abstract
The fatty-acid contents of a wild strain of Aerobacter aerogenes and of three auxotrophic mutants were determined by the use of gas-liquid chromatography. All strains studied exhibited essentially identical fatty-acid spectra. This organism was shown to contain large amounts of a C17 cyclopropane fatty acid, and it is suggested that it may be a convenient natural source of this compound. By use of the auxotrophic mutants which have varying requirements for exogenous sources of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine, it was shown by means of radioisotope tracer technics that S-adenosylmethionine functions in this organism as a donor of a one-carbon unit that is used to form the ring structure in the biosynthesis of cyclopropane fatty-acids.