Cultivation of Leptospires: Fatty Acid Requirements

Abstract

Both the parasitic and the saprophytic leptospires grow well on a pair of fatty acids (one saturated, the other unsaturated) if they contain at least 15 carbon atoms.

Effects of fatty acids on motility retention by Treponema pallidum in vitro

“…The synergistic effects of fatty acid combinations on bacterial growth have been observed with different bacteria (7,15,27,29), but a specific combination may produce various effects with different organisms. For example, Eisler and von Metz (7) found that individual fatty acids which inhibited growth of Pasteurellapestis were also inhibitory when pairs of the saturated fatty acids were used.…”

“…Throughout this paper, toxic or toxicity refers to loss of treponemal motility. Motility retention was greater at each oleic acid concentration when 15 rather than 2 mg of BSA per ml was used. In subsequent experiments we used 15 mg of BSA per ml.…”

“…Free-living Spirochaeta organisms can synthesize all their fatty acids and lipids from glucose or acetate (18,22). Leptospira organisms are capable of beta-oxidation and desaturation reactions but, with few exceptions, are unable to synthesize fatty acids de novo and require them as medium supplements for growth (15,35). Members of the genus Treponema are the most deficient of the spirochetes with regard to fatty acid metabolism.…”