Lipid composition as a guide to the classification of bacteria.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined lipid composition as a guide to the classification of bacteria and showed that qualitative fatty acid analyses could be used to differentiate between various organisms, such as bacteria.

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter examines lipid composition as a guide to the classification of bacteria. The correlation of lipid composition with taxonomic classification showed that qualitative fatty acid analyses could be used to differentiate between various organisms. Lipids are most simply defined as the natural products that may be isolated from biological materials by extraction with organic solvents and that are usually insoluble in water. The lipids commonly found in bacteria are amphiphatic molecules, that is, they consist of distinct polar and apolar regions. The chemical composition of many bacterial components, including lipids, can be affected by a variety of external factors, such as temperature of growth, substrate composition, pH of environment, and time of harvesting. The ideal chemotaxonomic method has three basic criteria: (1) it should be applicable to as large a number of organisms as possible; (2) the required information should be readily obtained; and (3) the parameters utilized should differ as widely as possible from one genus or family to the next.