Use of tetramethylammonium hydroxide to determine the total fatty acid composition of microorganisms.

A destructive chromatographic method of identifying microorganisms is described. The method is based on hydrolysis of the biomass of the microorganisms in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide, followed by introduction of the hydrolyzate into the heated injector of a gas chromatograph. The main products in this case are methyl esters of fatty acids, the composition of which is used as a diagnostic criterion. Chromatograms of the residues after chloroform-methanol extraction and the dynamics of the change in total fatty acids in the process of growth can also be used for identification. The dynamics of total fatty acids was studied in E. coli strain K-12, and destructive chromatograms for bacteria and yeasts are cited.