COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF GLYCOLIPIDS OF S. cerevisiae IN RELATION TO ALCOHOL AND TEMPERATURE STRESS

The present study was aimed to highlight the effect of temperature and alcohol on fatty acids composition of total glycolipids of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as on MGDG and DGDG content of the total glycolipids. The composition of fatty acid observed to altered both under alcohol and temperature stress. In both cases the unsaturated fatty acid content of yeast S. cerevisiae glycolipids increased while saturated fatty acid decreased which may be due to conversion of saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid during stress conditions which may be helping in modulating the membrane fluidity by fatty acids. Quantitatively major fatty acids in both MGDG and DGDG contain higher chain fatty acids in addition to palmitic and oleic acids. A increase in unsaturated to saturated fatty acids ratio as well as unsaturation index was observed under temperature stress of MGDG fatty acids. Since carbohydrates play very important role in cell signaling any changes in these molecules during stress condition may alter the adaptation behavior of the organisms and in plamts.