CHARACTERIZATION OF AEROMONAS GENOMIC SPECIES BY USING QUINONE, POLYAMINE, AND FATTY-ACID PATTERNS

A chemotaxonomic study was carried out on representative strains of 13 Aeromonas genomic species. Quinone, polyamine, and fatty acid pattern s were found to be very useful for an improved characterization of the genus and an improved differentiation from members of the families En terobacteriaceae and Vibrionaceae. The Q-8-benzoquinone was the predom inant ubiquinone, and putrescine and diaminopropane were the major pol yamines of the genus. The fatty acid patterns of 181 strains, all char acterized by DNA-DNA hybridization, showed a great homogeneity within the genus, with major amounts of hexadecanoic acid (16:0), hexadecenoi c acid (16:1), and octadecenoic acid (18:1), and minor amounts of the hydroxylated fatty acids (3-OH 13:0, 2-OH 14:0, 3-OH 14:0) in addition to some iso and anteiso branched fatty acids (i-13:0, i-17:1, i-17:0, and a-17:0). Although some differences in fatty acid profiles between the genomic species could be observed, a clearcut differentiation of all species was not possible.