The cellular fatty acid composition in acetic acid bacteria

Abstract

The cellular fatty acid composition was determined for 53 strains of acetic acid bacteria by gas-liquid chromatography. The representatives of the genera Gluconobacter and Acetobacter contained the straight-chain unsaturated acid of C18:1 as a major constituent. Other acids were the straight-chain saturated acids of C16:0 and C18:0 and unidentified acids. The genus Acetobacter was discriminated from the genus Gluconobacter by the former having a detectable amount of the straight-chain saturated acid of C14:0 under experimental conditions. In contrast, the polarly flagellated intermediate strains represented the cellular fatty acid profiles composed of the iso-branched chain acid of C15:0. These results are discussed in connection with the ubiquinone system. The cellular fatty acid composition is proposed here as a novel criterion for characterizing acetic acid bacteria, especially the polarly flagellated intermediate, or A. aurantius. © 1981, Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation. All rights reserved.