P hydroxymyristic acid

Figure 3.8 Structure of Lipid A from RhodospiriHum tenue. (a) The basis of the sugar backbone (b) the complete lipid A molecule. (Gin glucosamine, Ara arabinose, NH.Ara 4-amino-arabinose, pHM p-hydroxymyristic acid and FA 14 0 or 16 0 or D-3-OH 10 0 fatty acid.)...

A significant proportion of the esterified fatty acids of LPS and Lipid A are p-hydroxy acids, predominantly P-hydroxymyristic acid (Ikawa et al., 1953 Burton and Carter, 1964). Since the LPS contains only minor amounts of unsaturated and cyclopropane fatty acids, and the Lipid A contains almost none, it would appear diat these compounds are found only in the extractable lipids. Conversely, P-hydroxymyristic acid seems to be restricted to the LPS, since it is not a component of the extractable hpids of E. coU (Kaneshiro and Marr, 1961). 

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