Aliphatic Hydrocarbons and Fatty Acids of Some Marine and Freshwater Microorganisms

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Abstract
Gas chromatography and combined gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry have been used to study the fatty-acids and hydrocarbons of a bacterium from the Pacific Ocean, Vibrio marinus, a freshwater blue-green alga, Anacystis nidulans, and algal mat communities from the Gulf of Mexico. Both types of microorganisms (bacteria and algae) showed relatively simple hydrocarbon and fatty-acid patterns, the hydrocarbons predominating in the region of C-17 and the fatty-acids in the range of C-14 to C-18. The patterns of V. marinus were more comparable to those of the algal populations than to patterns reported for other bacteria. An incomplete correlation between fatty-acids and hydrocarbons in both types of organisms was observed, making it difficult to accept the concept that the biosynthesis of hydrocarbons follows a simple fatty-acid decarboxylation process.