Low-Temperature-Induced Changes in Composition and Fluidity of Lipopolysaccharides in the Antarctic Psychrotrophic Bacterium<i>Pseudomonas syringae</i>

Abstract

The Antarctic psychrotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae was more sensitive to polymyxin B at a lower (4 degrees C) temperature of growth than at a higher (22 degrees C) temperature. The amount of hydroxy fatty acids in the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) also increased at the lower temperature. These changes correlated with the increase in fluidity of the hydrophobic phase of lipopolysaccharide aggregates in vitro.