ISOPRENOID QUINONE, CELLULAR FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION AND DIAMINOPIMELIC ACID ISOMERS OF NEWLY CLASSIFIED THERMOPHILIC ANAEROBIC GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIA

The configuration of quinone systems, cellular fatty acids and diamino pimelic acids in Il species of thermophilic clostridia which have been classified into new genera based on their 16S rRNA sequences was dete rmined. It was found that menaquinone 7 was present in 10 species as t he major component of menaquinone systems by analyses using HPLC with photodiode-array detector and electron impact mass spectrometry. In se ven of the 11 species, the major cellular fatty acids were determined to be iso-15:0 and iso-17:0. As a results of chemotaxonomic studies it was demonstrated that the representatives of the new genera Thermoana erobacter and Thermoanaerobacterium was heterogeneous in their chemica l composition, whereas strains of the new genus Moorella and of the ne w unnamed genus which is composed of (Clostridium) stercorarium and (C lostridium) thermolacticum showed homogeneity in their chemotaxonomic characteristics. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Socie ties. Published by Elsevier Science E.V.