A direct comparison between fatty acid analysis and intact phospholipid profiling for microbial identification

Two chemical methods for characterization of micro organisms were compared: phospholipid ester-linked fatty acid (PLFA) analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and intact phospholipid profiling (IPP) using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry. Both methods were tested on five reference pseudomonad strains: Pseudomonas putida mt-2, Pseudomonas putida F1, Burkholderia cepacia G4, Burkholderia pickettii PKO1, and Pseudomonas mendocina KR1. PLFA detected eight major fatty acids in these pseudomonads, ranging in chain length from C14 to C19. IPP detected 16 phospholipids in three different classes: phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidyl-dimethylethanolamine. Factor analysis of the data showed that IPP is superior to the PLFA technique in microbial differentiation and identification.