Introduction

Abstract

During the early growth of biochemistry relatively little attention was devoted to the study of lipids, apart from some specialised aspects like the lipid-soluble vitamins. In the past 20 years there has been a marked upsurge of interests in lipids, stimulated by research in areas such as photosynthesis and membrane structure and function. This research has encompassed the lipids of animals, plants and micro-organisms. However, despite the great economic importance of, for example, seed oils and the wide use of bacterial systems as experimental models, it is often assumed that lipids of plants and bacteria are essentially the same as those of animals. Alternatively, scant mention only is made of the differences.