Functional diversity of isoprenoid lipids in Methylobacterium extorquens PA1

What is it about?

All cells have a membrane that delineates the boundary between life and its environment, where lipids play a crucial role in tuning membrane properties. In eukaryotic organisms, sterols are essential for assembling a cell membrane that can support life. However, bacteria generally do not make sterols, so how do they solve this problem? Hopanoids and carotenoids are two major bacterial lipids, that are proposed as sterol surrogates. Our findings suggest that hopanoids are essential for growth at higher temperatures, membrane permeability and tolerance of low divalent cations, whereas carotenoids are less essential but may play a role in protection against oxidative stress in M. extorquens PA1.

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