[Taxonomic significance of the fatty acid composition of bacteria of the genera Bordetella and Haemophilus].

Bacteria of the species B. parapertussis and B. bronchiseptica have proved to be identical in their fatty-acid composition with a high level (35.7-39%) of methylene-hexadecanoic acid, found to be absent in B. pertussis in experimental conditions. At the same time the total content of methylene-hexadecanoic acid and its biosynthetic precursor, hexadecenoic acid, in the first two Bordetella species is similar to the content of hexadecenoic acid in B. pertussis, which, along with the presence of common characteristics in the sign under consideration (the low level of C18:1), indicates the close relationship of these three Bordetella species. Bacteria of the species H. influenzae, H. parainfluenzae, H. aegyptius, H. aphrophilus have similar fatty-acid composition with the prevalence of hexadecanoic and hexadecenoic acids and the low level of fatty acids with 18 carbon atoms. The data on fatty-acid composition may suggest the presence of philogenetic links between the genera Bordetella and Haemophilus.