ABSTRACT
Hypothesis: Bacteria actively modulate the fatty acid content of their membrane for optimizing production and conservation of energy.
In this chapter the general properties and evolutionary history of DHA/EPA are generalized to include several other classes of fatty acids important in membranes of bacteria. As background recall that bacteria live in diverse environments and their membrane lipid chains play crucial roles in adaptation and survival. Thermodynamic ecology is the study of how bacteria adapt to energy sources in their environments. Bacteria are well known to blend different fatty acids into their bilayers to match their environment and growth needs; we argue that such changes are driven purely by the bioenergetic needs of the cell.
