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 C_18:1 as a major constituent. Other acids were the straight-chain saturated acids of C_16:0 and C_18:0 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 C_14:0 under experimental conditions. In contrast, the polarly flagellated intermediate strains represented the cellular fatty acid profiles composed of the iso-branched chain acid of C_15:0. 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.