What is the primary component of the Archaeal plasma membrane?
Archaeal envelopes must maintain stability at high temperature, low pH, and high salt concentrations, constraints met by fundamentally different lipids compared to bacteria and eukaryotes. Rather than fatty acids linked via ester bonds to glycerol-3-phosphate, archaea synthesize isoprenoid chains built from repeating C5 isoprene units, often C20 phytanyl or C40 biphytanyl chains, attached via ether bonds to glycerol-1-phosphate, the opposite stereoisomer to bacterial lipids. Ether linkages resist hydrolysis by extremes and provide greater chemical stability, while branched isoprenoids with met
Ref: Albers & Meyer, Nature Rev Microbiol 2011, Archaeal Lipids; Koga, Archaea 2011, Glycerol Backbone.
