Fingerprinting of carbohydrates of Streptococcus mutans by combined gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A modified method is described for the analysis, by gas-liquid chromatography, of various sugars as the trimethylsilyl derivatives of their methyl glycosides. The technique was employed for the analysis of the cellular carbohydrate of Streptococcus mutans NCTC 10832 and provided reproducible fingerprints, consisting of peaks due to glycerol, rhamnose, xylose, galactofuranse, glucose, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid. Absolute identification of the latter was by combined gas-liquid chromatography--mass spectrometry.