Lipophilic bacteria (''

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

-loving bacteria'') are

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

that may proliferate in

lipids Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

Types

They include lipophilic corynebacteria. ''

Cutibacterium acnes ''Cutibacterium acnes'' (formerly ''Propionibacterium acnes'') is the relatively slow-growing, typically aerotolerant anaerobic, gram-positive bacterium (rod) linked to the skin condition of acne; it can also cause chronic blepharitis and endopht ...

'' is a type of lipophilic bacteria, releasing

fatty acids In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, f ...

and worsening

comedone A comedo is a clogged hair follicle (pore) in the skin. Keratin (skin debris) combines with oil to block the follicle. A comedo can be open (blackhead) or closed by skin (whitehead) and occur with or without acne. The word "comedo" comes from the ...

s in

acne Acne, also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term skin condition that occurs when dead skin cells and oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include blackheads or whiteheads, pimples, oily skin, and ...

. However, the group of lipophilic bacteria are not pathogenic, i.e. they don't cause food poisoning or

food infection Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

Evolutionary reason

In terms of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, lipophilism can be regarded as fine-tuning the

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

to lipophilic habitats. Some bacteria do not only accelerate their metabolism using lipids prevailing in their

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, some of them cannot proliferate without external lipid supply. For example, some Corynebacteria, such as ''

Corynebacterium uropygiale ''Corynebacterium uropygiale'' is a bacterium described in 2016 following thorough investigations using a polyphasic approach including MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, phylogeny of 16S rRNA and ''rpoB'' genes and DNA fingerprinting. To date, it ha ...

'', lost their ability to produce certain

by themselves. On the one hand, this renders the bacteria vulnerable to environmental changes. On the other hand, energy can be saved as there is no need to put effort into lipid synthesis.

Health risks

Most materials in laboratories and health-care centers have small amounts of lipids on their surface, and thus may support the proliferation of lipophilic bacteria. However, since they are not pathogenic, this is not a serious threat. Lipophilic bacteria may also proliferate in diet fat. However, in modern food industry this is very rare and at worst causes a discoloration of the fat.

Commercial use

Many lipophilic bacteria are a good source of biosurfactants, hence are used commercially, e.g. ''

Bacillus licheniformis ''Bacillus licheniformis'' is a bacterium commonly found in the soil. It is found on bird feathers, especially chest and back plumage, and most often in ground-dwelling birds (like sparrows) and aquatic species (like ducks). It is a gram-posi ...

''. These kinds of bacteria produce biosurfactants which replace chemically produced surfactants. Biosurfactants are degradable unlike the chemical ones.

References

{{Extremophile Bacteria