Glycolipids are prominent constituents in the membranes of cells from all domains of life. For example, diglycosyl-glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (2Gly-GDGTs) are associated with methanotrophic ANME-1 archaea and heterotrophic benthic archaea, two archaeal groups of global biogeochemical importance. The hydrophobic biphytane moieties of 2Gly-GDGTs from these two uncultivated archaeal groups exhibit distinct carbon isotopic compositions. To explore whether the isotopic compositions of the sugar headgroups provide additional information on the metabolism of their producers, we developed a procedure to analyze the d13C values of glycosidic headgroups. Successful determination was achieved by (1) monitoring the contamination from free sugars during lipid extraction and preparation, (2) optimizing the hydrolytic conditions for glycolipids, and (3) derivatizing the resulting sugars into aldononitrile acetate derivatives, which are stable enough to withstand a subsequent column purification step. First results of d13C values of sugars cleaved from 2Gly-GDGTs in two marine sediment samples, one containing predominantly ANME-1 archaea and the other benthic archaea, were obtained and compared with the d13C values of the corresponding biphytanes. In both samples the dominant sugar headgroups were enriched in 13C relative to the corresponding major biphytane. This 13C enrichment was significantly larger in the putative major glycolipids from ANME-1 archaea (~15 per mil) than in those from benthic archaea (<7 per mil). This method opens a new analytical window for the examination of carbon isotopic relationships between sugars and lipids in uncultivated organisms.

Standard error of triplicate GC-C-IRMS measurements was <1%. The isotopic values of major carbon pools are also plotted for comparison. Abbreviations: Man, mannose; Glc, glucose; Gul, gulose; Gal, galactose; BiP, biphytane (numbers indicate the amount of rings); DIC, dissolved inorganic carbon; TOC, total organic carbon.

Supplement to: Lin, Yu-Shih; Lipp, Julius S; Yoshinaga, Marcos Yukio; Lin, Shao-Hsuan; Elvert, Marcus; Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe (2010): Intramolecular stable carbon isotopic analysis of archaeal glycosyl tetraether lipids. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 24(19), 2817-2826