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Identification of Legionella species by the composition of cellular fatty acids

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Abstract

One hundred and fifty-three isolates from the environment and 36 reference strains of the Legionella were studied with regards to their composition of cellular fatty acids as determined by gas chromatography, and then were classified into 41 groups by numerical analysis. Most reference strains formed only a single group, except L. micdadei, L. jamestowniensis, L. parisiensis, L. jordanis, L. feeleii and L. longbeachae, which were clustered into two or three groups. Even serological types of L. pneumophila could be clearly identified. Therefore, in this study, numerical analysis of cellular fatty acid composition is an effective method for identifying Legionella species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangzhou Kingmed Center for Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou, 510330, China

    Cun-Lei Fang, Zhao-Hui Hu & Qing-Yi Zhu

  2. Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Bei**g, 100071, China

    Ya-Jun Song, Ya-Fang Tan & Rui-Fu Yang

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  1. Cun-Lei Fang
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  2. Zhao-Hui Hu
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  3. Qing-Yi Zhu
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  4. Ya-Jun Song
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  5. Ya-Fang Tan
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  6. Rui-Fu Yang
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Correspondence to Qing-Yi Zhu.

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All the authors contributed equally to this work

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Fang, CL., Hu, ZH., Zhu, QY. et al. Identification of Legionella species by the composition of cellular fatty acids. Front. Med. China 4, 208–215 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-010-0031-8

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