Lipids of the zygomycete Absidia corymbifera F-965

The extractable cell lipids of the soil zygomycete Absidia corymbifera F-965 have been found to contain ergosterol peroxide and glucocerebroside with 9-methylsphinga-( E),9( E)-dienine base which have not been revealed thus far in the fungi of the plylum Zygomycota. The bulk of the lipids are contributed by acylglycerols and glycerophospholipids common to the majority of fungi. The cell lipids of the zygomycete Absidia corymbifera F-965 extracted with isopropanol and CHCl 3–MeOH mixtures at the exponential growth phase comprise 20 ± 2% of mycelium dry wt. The lipids consist of: triacylglycerols (51% of the total lipids extracted), diacylglycerols (9%), monoacylglycerols (3%), ergosterol (5%), ergosterol peroxide (5α,8α-epidioxyergosta-6,22-diene-3β-ol) (3%), fatty-acid esters of ergosterol (less than 0.5%), free fatty acids (4%), glucocerebroside (3%), and glycerophospholipids (22%). The main phospholipids are phosphatidylethanolamine (39% of the total phospholipids), phosphatidyl- myo-inositol (17%), diphosphatidylglycerol (12%), phosphatidic acid (7%), phosphatidylcholine (6%), phosphatidylglycerol (3%), and two unusual phospholipids reported earlier, N-acetylphosphatidylethanolamine (7%) and N-ethoxycarbonyl phosphatidylethanolamine (9%). In addition, two unknown acidic phospholipids are present in traces. Saturated fatty acids of the lipids are dominated by n-hexadecanoic acid and unsaturated ones by octadecenoic acid; octadecadienoic and octadecatrienoic acids are present in lesser amounts. Ergosterol peroxide as well as the above glucocerebroside which contains 9-methylsphinga-4( E),9( E)-dienine have first been revealed in zygomycetes.