Fatty Acid, Lipid Class, and Phospholipid Molecular Species Composition of the Soft Coral Xenia sp. (Nha Trang Bay, the South China Sea, Vietnam)

Abstract The soft corals of the genus Xenia are common for Indo‐Pacific reef ecosystems. Lipid class, fatty acid (FA), phospho‐ and phosphonolipid molecular species compositions were identified for the first time in the soft coral Xenia sp. from Vietnam. Total lipids consisted predominantly of waxes, monoalkyl diacylglycerols, triacylglycerols, sterols, and polar lipids (21.4, 7.7, 14.2, 10.5, and 36.7 %, respectively). Sesquiterpene alcohol, valerenenol, was found. Acids 16:0, 18:3n‐6, 20:4n‐6, and 20:5n‐3 dominated in total FA. The markers of zooxanthellae (18:4n‐3 and 18:5n‐3) and octocorals (24:5n‐6 and 24:6n‐3) were detected. Acids 18:5n‐3, 20:4n‐6, 22:4n‐6, and 24:5n‐6 concentrated in FA of polar lipids, whereas 14:0, 16:0, 16:1n‐7, 18:2n‐6, and 18:3n‐6 were the major FA of neutral lipids. ChoGpl, EtnGpl, SerGpl, CAEP, PtdIns, and lyso ChoGpl constituted 39.5, 20.8, 20.5, 9.7, 4.3, and 5.3 %, respectively, of the sum of phospho‐ and phosphonolipids. Thirty‐two molecular species of phospholipids and ceramide aminoethylphosphonate (CAEP) were determined by high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Lyso 18:0e PakCho (4.1 %), 18:0e/20:4 PakCho (20.5 %), 18:1e/20:4 PlsEtn (18.0 %), 18:0e/24:5 PakSer (14.0 %), and 16:0 CAEP (9.6 %) were the major molecular species. EtnGpl and PtdIns mainly consisted of alkenyl acyl and diacyl forms, respectively. Alkyl acyl forms predominated in ChoGpl and SerGpl. Acid 24:5n‐6 was a principal FA in SerGpl, whereas 20:4n‐6 was more abundant in ChoGpl and EtnGpl. PtdIns contained various C 20–24 PUFA. In the context of chemotaxonomy of corals, Xenia sp. has the lipid composition typical for soft corals and the FA profile similar to that of alcyonarians with the high level of 18:3n‐6.