The lipids of thermophilic fungi: Lipid composition comparisons between thermophilic and mesophilic fungi

Abstract

Abstract The lipid composition of nine thermophilic and nine mesophilic species of seven genera of fungi were compared. The total lipids varied between 8.0% and 54.1% with most fungi possessing between 8.0% and 18.3% lipids. The predominant fatty acids were found to be palmitic, oleic and linolenic. Lesser amounts of arachidic, linolenic, palmitoleic, pentadecanoic, myristic and lauric acids were found. The mesophiles varied between 0% and 18.5% linolenic acid, while the thermophiles did not contain any appreciable linolenic acid (<0.5%). The mesophile, Mucor globosus , and the thermophile, Mucor pusillus , contain γ linolenic acid. The fatty acids of the thermophilic fungi were more saturated than the corresponding mesophilic species.