Isolation of Glucosylceramides from Yeast (Hansenula ciferri)

A glucocerebroside was isolated from the yeast Hansenula ciferri.The cerebroside contained only a single sugar, n-glucose, and several species of sphingosine derivatives and fatty acids.Phytosphingosine was detected only in trace amounts in some preparations, and was absent in others, in spite of the fact that the yeast is known to produce substantial quantities of tetraacetylphytosphingosine.Preliminary characterization of the sphingosines in the glucocerebrosides showed that they differed from the sphingosines found in animal glucocerebrosides.The major fatty acids in the cerebrosides were Cl6 and CIS saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and an cu-hydroxy acid with the chromatographic properties of 2-hydroxystearic acid.Periodate oxidation indicated that the glucosyl group was linked to C-l of the sphingosine moiety.Glycolipids containing sugars linked to ceramide,' are widely distributed in vertebrate tissues (for review, see References 1 and 2).Cerebrosides are glycosphingolipids containing only 1 glycose unit, usually D-g&CtOSe or n-glucose; galactocerebrosides were the first glycosphingolipids isolated from mammalian brain.A characteristic feature of the lipid storage disease, Gaucher's disease, is the accumulation of abnormal quantities of glucocerebroside in brain and spleen (3).Investigations of plant glycolipids by Carter et al. (4) showed