CHEMOTAXONOMIC INVESTIGATION OF VARIOUS PROSTHECATE AND OR BUDDING BACTERIA

Sixty-three strains of prosthecate and/or budding bacteria were invest igated chemotaxonomically using quinones, phospholipids, and fatty aci ds as chemical markers. Phospholipids and hydroxy fatty acids were mos t suitable for discrimination of strains at the genus level, whereas q uinones were characteristic for the different phyla which the strains of this study belong to. Thus, the quinones of the Proteobacteria Anca lomicrobium, Angulomicrobium, Asticcacaulis, Labrys, Prosthecobacter, Prosthecomicrobium, and Stella were of the ubiquinone type Q-10, the P lanctomycetales had menaquinone MK-6, while Verrucomicrobium possessed MK-9/10/10(H-2)/11. The recently reported phylogenetic heterogeneity among the Prosthecomicrobium-like bacteria and among the Planctomyceta les was confirmed with these chemotaxonomic methods. Therefore these s trains were placed into several subgroups. In some cases unusual featu res of bacteria were noticed. For example, menaquinones were found in the Gram-negative Planctomycetales and Verrucomicrobium although they were grown under aerobic conditions. Also, a long-chain cyclopropane f atty acid was detected in some Planctomyces strains. Verrucomicrobium contained some unsaturated fatty acids with unusual double bond positi ons. In addition, relatively high amounts of hydroxy fatty acids were found in Stella strains.