First Isolation and Structure Elucidation of GDNT-β-Glu - Tetraether Lipid Fragment from Archaeal Sulfolobus Strains.

Due to their special chemical structure, tetraether lipids (TEL) represent essential elements of archaeal membranes, providing these organisms with extraordinary properties. Here we describe the characterization of a newly isolated structural element of the main lipids. The TEL fragment GDNT-β-Glu was isolated from Sulfolobus metallicus and characterized in terms of its chemical structure by NMR- and MS-investigations.