bacterial identification

[vestelshirley]

I understand that fatty acid analysis is a way to identify bacteria.

Are there other ways to do this chromatographically?

[Mark Tracy]

Yes indeed. There is a standardized protocol for GC analysis of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters and a reference library of bacterial FAME profiles. Ages ago, Hewlett-Packard sold a fully configured system for that application. Ask in the GC forums and I'm sure someone will point you to a current implementation.

[Victor]

There are also ways to identify bacterial cells by capillary electrophoresis, although this is not a routine method like the GC procedure Mark described, and CE is not a chromatographic method.....however, if you interested the name to search for is Dan Armstrong who has published a fair bit on this procedure in Analytical Chemistry and other journals.