Lipophilic bacteria

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Lipophilic bacteria ( fat-loving bacteria) are bacteria that may proliferate in lipids.

Contents

Types

They include lipophilic corynebacteria. [1]

Cutibacterium acnes is a type of lipophilic bacteria, [2] releasing fatty acids and worsening comedones in acne.

However, the group of lipophilic bacteria are not pathogenic, i.e. they don't cause food poisoning or food infection [3]

Evolutionary reason

In terms of evolution, lipophilism can be regarded as fine-tuning the metabolism to lipophilic habitats. Some bacteria do not only accelerate their metabolism using lipids prevailing in their environment, some of them cannot proliferate without external lipid supply. For example, some Corynebacteria, such as Corynebacterium uropygiale , [4] lost their ability to produce certain fatty acids by themselves. On the one hand, this renders the bacteria vulnerable to environmental changes. On the other hand, energy can be saved as there is no need to put effort into lipid synthesis. [4]

Health risks

Most materials in laboratories and health-care centers have small amounts of lipids on their surface, and thus may support the proliferation of lipophilic bacteria. [5] However, since they are not pathogenic, [3] this is not a serious threat.

Lipophilic bacteria may also proliferate in diet fat. However, in modern food industry this is very rare [3] and at worst causes a discoloration of the fat. [3]

Commercial use

Many lipophilic bacteria are a good source of biosurfactants, hence are used commercially, e.g. Bacillus licheniformis . These kinds of bacteria produce biosurfactants which replace chemically produced surfactants. Biosurfactans are degradable unlike the chemical ones.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Fat Esters of three fatty acid chains and the alcohol glycerol, one of the three main macronutrients, also known as triglycerides

In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.

Lipid Substance of biological origin that is soluble in nonpolar solvents

In biology and biochemistry, a lipid is a macro biomolecule that is soluble in nonpolar solvents. Non-polar solvents are typically hydrocarbons used to dissolve other naturally occurring hydrocarbon lipid molecules that do not dissolve in water, including fatty acids, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins, monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, and phospholipids.

Metabolism The set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of organisms

Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main purposes of metabolism are: the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes; the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of metabolic wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. The word metabolism can also refer to the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, including digestion and the transport of substances into and between different cells, in which case the above described set of reactions within the cells is called intermediary metabolism or intermediate metabolism. In various diseases, such as type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancer, normal metabolism is disrupted.

Triglyceride Any ester of glycerol having all three hydroxyl groups esterified with fatty acids

A triglyceride is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids. Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates, as well as vegetable fat. They are also present in the blood to enable the bidirectional transference of adipose fat and blood glucose from the liver, and are a major component of human skin oils.

Propionic acid Carboxylic acid with chemical formula CH3CH2CO2H

Propionic acid (, from the Greek words protos, meaning "first", and pion, meaning "fat"; also known as propanoic acid) is a naturally occurring carboxylic acid with chemical formula CH3CH2CO2H. It is a liquid with a pungent and unpleasant smell somewhat resembling body odor. The anion CH3CH2CO2 as well as the salts and esters of propionic acid are known as propionates or propanoates.

Fibrate

In pharmacology, the fibrates are a class of amphipathic carboxylic acids. They are used for a range of metabolic disorders, mainly hypercholesterolemia, and are therefore hypolipidemic agents.

Phosphatidylcholine

Phosphatidylcholines (PC) are a class of phospholipids that incorporate choline as a headgroup. They are a major component of biological membranes and can be easily obtained from a variety of readily available sources, such as egg yolk or soybeans, from which they are mechanically or chemically extracted using hexane. They are also a member of the lecithin group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues. Dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine is a major component of pulmonary surfactant and is often used in the L/S ratio to calculate fetal lung maturity. While phosphatidylcholines are found in all plant and animal cells, they are absent in the membranes of most bacteria, including Escherichia coli. Purified phosphatidylcholine is produced commercially.

<i>Cutibacterium acnes</i> Species of bacterium

Cutibacterium acnes is the relatively slow-growing, typically aerotolerant anaerobic, gram-positive bacterium (rod) linked to the skin condition of acne; it can also cause chronic blepharitis and endophthalmitis, the latter particularly following intraocular surgery. Its genome has been sequenced and a study has shown several genes can generate enzymes for degrading skin and proteins that may be immunogenic.

<i>Propionibacterium</i> Genus of bacteria

Propionibacterium is a gram-positive, anaerobic, rod-shaped genus of bacteria named for their unique metabolism: They are able to synthesize propionic acid by using unusual transcarboxylase enzymes.

<i>Corynebacterium</i> Genus of bacteria

Corynebacterium is a genus of bacteria that are Gram-positive and aerobic. They are bacilli (rod-shaped), and in some phases of life they are, more particularly, club-shaped, which inspired the genus name.

Medium-chain triglyceride Medium-chain fatty acids

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) are triglycerides with two or three fatty acids having an aliphatic tail of 6–12 carbon atoms, i.e., medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). Rich food sources for commercial extraction of MCTs include palm kernel oil and coconut oil.

Lipid metabolism is the synthesis and degradation of lipids in cells, involving the breakdown or storage of fats for energy and the synthesis of structural and functional lipids, such as those involved in the construction of cell membranes. In animals, these fats are obtained from food or are synthesized by the liver. Lipogenesis is the process of synthesizing these fats. The majority of lipids found in the human body from ingesting food are triglycerides and cholesterol. Other types of lipids found in the body are fatty acids and membrane lipids. Lipid metabolism is often considered as the digestion and absorption process of dietary fat; however, there are two sources of fats that organisms can use to obtain energy: from consumed dietary fats and from stored fat. Vertebrates use both sources of fat to produce energy for organs such as the heart to function. Since lipids are hydrophobic molecules, they need to be solubilized before their metabolism can begin. Lipid metabolism often begins with hydrolysis, which occurs with the help of various enzymes in the digestive system. Lipid metabolism also occurs in plants, though the processes differ in some ways when compared to animals. The second step after the hydrolysis is the absorption of the fatty acids into the epithelial cells of the intestinal wall. In the epithelial cells, fatty acids are packaged and transported to the rest of the body.

Starvation response in animals is a set of adaptive biochemical and physiological, triggered by lack of food or extreme weight loss, changes in which the body seeks to conserve energy by reducing the amount of calories it burns.

Skin flora

The term skin flora refers to the microorganisms which reside on the skin, typically human skin.

Phospholipid-derived fatty acids

Phospholipid-derived fatty acids (PLFAs) are widely used in microbial ecology as chemotaxonomic markers of bacteria and other organisms. Phospholipids are the primary lipids composing cellular membranes. Phospholipids can be saponified, which releases the fatty acids contained in their diglyceride tail. Once the phospholipids of an unknown sample are saponified, the composition of the resulting PLFA can be compared to the PLFA of known organisms to determine the identity of the sample organism. PLFA analysis may be combined with other techniques, such as stable isotope probing to determine which microbes are metabolically active in a sample. PLFA analysis was pioneered by D.C. White at the University of Tennessee, in the early to mid 1980s.

Corynebacterium amycolatum is a Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic bacillus capable of fermentation with propionic acid as the major end product of its glucose metabolism. One of its best known relatives is Corynebacterium diphtheriae, the causative agent of diphtheria. C. amycolatum is a common component of the natural flora found on human skin and mucous membranes, and as such, is often disregarded by physicians as a contaminant when found in blood cultures. However, C. amycolatum is actually an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing serious human disease such as endocarditis and sepsis.

Discovery and development of gastrointestinal lipase inhibitors

Lipase inhibitors belong to a drug class that is used as an antiobesity agent. Their mode of action is to inhibit gastric and pancreatic lipases, enzymes that play an important role in the digestion of dietary fat. Lipase inhibitors are classified in the ATC-classification system as A08AB . Numerous compounds have been either isolated from nature, semi-synthesized, or fully synthesized and then screened for their lipase inhibitory activity but the only lipase inhibitor on the market is orlistat . Lipase inhibitors have also shown anticancer activity, by inhibiting fatty acid synthase.

Corynebacterium uropygiale is a bacterium described in 2016 following thorough investigations using a polyphasic approach including MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, phylogeny of 16S rRNA and rpoB genes and DNA fingerprinting. To date, it has been regarded as endemic to preen gland secretions of healthy turkeys . It is member of the genus Corynebacterium and belongs to the phylum Actinobacteria. Although, a large number of bacteria including Corynebacteria have been reported as part of the normal microbiome of birds, C. uropygiale is the only member of the genus that has been recovered in preen gland secretions of birds. It is one of three bacterial species which have been found to colonize preen gland secretions of birds.

<i>Corynebacterium striatum</i> Species of bacterium

Corynebacterium striatum is a bacterium that is a member of the Corynebacterium genus. It is classified as non-diphtheritic. The bacterium is a gram-positive prokaryote that assumes a 'club-like' morphology, more formally known as a corynebacteria structure. It is non-lipophilic and undergoes aerobic respiration and is also a facultative anaerobe it is catalase negative and oxidase positive glucose and sucrose fermenter.

A proteolipid is a protein covalently linked to lipid molecules, which can be fatty acids or sterols. The process of such a linkage is known as protein lipidation, and falls into the wider category of acylation and post-translational modification. Proteolipids are abundant in brain tissue, and are also present in many other animal and plant tissues. They are proteins covalenently bound to fatty acid chains, often granting them an interface for interacting with biological membranes. They are not to be confused with lipoproteins, a kind of spherical assembly made up of many molecules of lipids and some apolipoproteins.

References

  1. FUnke, Guido; Von Graevenitz, Alexander; Clarridge, Jill E.; Bernard, Kathryn A. (1997). "Clinical microbiology of coryneform bacteria". Clinical Microbiology Reviews. 10 (1): 125–59. doi:10.1128/cmr.10.1.125. PMC   172946 . PMID   8993861.
  2. Burkhart, C. G; Burkhart, C. N; Lehmann, P. F (1999). "Classic diseases revisited: Acne: A review of immunologic and microbiologic factors". Postgraduate Medical Journal. 75 (884): 328–31. doi:10.1136/pgmj.75.884.328. PMC   1741272 . PMID   10435165.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jensen, L. B.; Grettie, D. P. (1933). "The action of microorganisms on fats". Oil & Soap. 10 (2): 23–7. doi:10.1007/BF02639925.
  4. 1 2 Braun, Markus Santhosh; Zimmermann, Stefan; Danner, Maria; Rashid, Harun-or; Wink, Michael (2016). "Corynebacterium uropygiale sp. nov., isolated from the preen gland of Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 39 (2): 88–92. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2015.12.001. PMID   26776107.
  5. Ferrer, Consuelo; Ruiz-Moreno, José M.; Rodrı́Guez, Alejandra; Montero, Javier; Alió, Jorge L. (2004). "Postoperative Corynebacterium macginleyi endophthalmitis". Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery. 30 (11): 2441–4. doi:10.1016/j.jcrs.2004.04.056. PMID   15519105.