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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL SYSTEMATIC OF BACTERIOLOGY, 1978, p. 223-228 Apr. 0020-7713/78/OO28-0223$02.OOOo/O Copyright 0 1978 International Association of Microbiological Societies

Vol. 28, No. 2
Printed in U.S.A.

Comparative Study of the Total Cellular Fatty Acids of Staphylococcus Species of Human OriginJr
DON R. DURHAM AND WESLEY E. KLOOS Departments of Microbiology and Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27650

The cellular fatty acid compositions of 100 strains representing 10 different species of Staphylococcus were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography. Results indicated that the fatty acid compositionsof the various species were qualitatively similar with the exception of that of S. warneri, which contained a Czz fatty acid component. The species differed quantitatively with respect to relative percent1, ages of fatty acid components. The major fatty acids were C15Br, C17Br, c 6 CIS, and Czo. S. warneri and S. saprophyticus can be differentiated in most cases from all of the other species studied by the presence of significantly higher percentages l of C2,, and c6 fatty acids, respectively. Other species or groups of related species could also be separated on the basis of combinations of fatty acid components. These findings corroborate the newly proposed scheme of classification of the staphylococci, but the particular usefulness of gas-liquid chromatography of fatty acids for the identification of clinically s i d c a n t , coagulase-negative staphylococci from humans is primarily limited to S. saprophyticus and possibly S. haemolyticus. However, application of the method may be useful in clarifying further the phenetic relationships of certain species and may have some ecological value. The identification and differentiation of bacteria by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) was proposed by Abel et al. (1). GLC analysis of metabolic products (3, 4, 22, 24) and structural components, particularly fatty acids (2,5,17,23,