sn-Glycerol 1-phosphate is the conjugate base of a phosphoric ester of glycerol. It is a component of ether lipids, which are common for archaea.

Biosynthesis and metabolism

Glycerol 1-phosphate is synthesized by reducing dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), a glycolysis intermediate, with sn-glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase. DHAP and thus glycerol 1-phosphate is also possible to be synthesized from amino acids and citric acid cycle intermediates via gluconeogenesis pathway. Glycerol 1-phosphate is a starting material for de novo synthesis of ether lipids, such as those derived from archaeol and caldarchaeol. It is first geranylgeranylated on its sn-3 position by a cytosolic enzyme, phosphoglycerol geranylgeranyltransferase. A second geranylgeranyl group is then added on the sn-2 position making unsaturated archaetidic acid.

Lipid divide

Organisms other than archaea, i.e. bacteria and eukaryotes, use the enantiomer, glycerol 3-phosphate for producing their cell membranes. The fact that archaea use the flipped chirality compared to these two groups is termed a lipid divide. , biologists still do not know how the lipid divide happened.