A direct comparison between fatty acid analysis and intact phospholipid profiling for microbial identification

Two chemical methods for characterization of micro organisms were compared: phospholipid ester-linked fatty acid (PLFA) analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and intact phospholipid profiling (IPP) using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry. Both methods were tested on five reference pseudomonad strains: Pseudomonas putida mt-2, Pseudomonas putida F1, Burkholderia cepacia G4, Burkholderia pickettii PKO1, and Pseudomonas mendocina KR1. PLFA detected eight major fatty acids in these pseudomonads, ranging in chain length from C-14 to C-19. IPP detected 16 phospholipids in three different classes: phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidyl-dimethylethanolamine. Factor analysis of the data showed that IPP is superior to the PLFA technique in microbial differentiation and identification. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.