Chemotaxonomic fatty acid fingerprints of bacteria grown with, and without, aeration

Fatty acid fingerprints were obtained for Bacillus megaterium, Corynebacterium xerosis, Klebsiella aerogenes, Neisseria catarrhalis, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, and Streptococcus faecalis. The test organisms were grown with, and without, aeration. Freeze-dried cells were methylated and the fatty acid methyl esters examined gas-chromatographically. Aerated cultures showed greater variation in fingerprints than non-aerated cultures and distinction between the species tested was readily possible.