Fatty acid composition of Leptospira lipids as a taxonomic criterion
Vasiurenko, Z.P.; Bernasovskaia, E.P.; Kondratenko, V.N.
Zhurnal Mikrobiologii Epidemiologii i Immunobiologii 1985(4): 6-11
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0372-9311 PMID: 4013576 Document Number: 254869
The fatty-acid composition of microbial cells in 17 pathogenic and saprophytic Leptospira strains, comprising 14 serovars and 10 serogroups, has been studied. The strains under investigation have proved to fall into 3 groups differing by this characteristic. The group of saprophytic strains is characterized by a comparatively high level of myristic acid and, consequently, by the ratio of saturated and nonsaturated fatty acids with 14 carbon atoms approaching 1:1; besides, it is also characterized by a lower, in comparison with the pathogenic strains, content of nonsaturated fatty acids with 18 carbon atoms. The first group of pathogenic Leptospira strains, belonging to the serogroups Icterohaemorrhagiae, Canicola, Ballum has a higher level of nonsaturated fatty acids. The second group of pathogenic Leptospira strains including the serogroups Grippotyphosa, Hebdomadis, Pomona, Tarassovi, Pyrogenes, Australia has been found to occupy an intermediate position between the first group of pathogenic Leptospira strains and the group of saprophytic ones. As the difference in the content of myristic acid in pathogenic and saprophytic Leptospira strains is a stable characteristic, it can be used for the differentiation of these strains. The present investigation has revealed that the distribution of the main fatty acids in Leptospira phospholipids is similar to their distribution in Leptospira neutral lipids with the exception of nonsaturated fatty acid with 14 carbon atoms, occurring mainly in phospholipids.