Isoprenoid quinones and fatty acids of Zoogloea.

Nine Zoogloea strains including the type strain of Z. ramigera (IAM 12136 = ATCC 19544 = N.C. Dondero 106) and newly isolated strains were investigated for isoprenoid quinone composition and whole-cell fatty acid profiles. Seven of the tested strains, having phenotypic properties typical of Zoogloea, were characterized by their production of both ubiquinone-8 and rhodoquinone-8 as major quinones, whereas the remaining two strains, Z. ramigera IAM 12669 (= K. Crabtree I-16-M) and IAM 12670 (= P.R. Dugan 115), formed ubiquinone-10 and ubiquinone-8, respectively, as the sole quinone. All rhodoquinone-producing strains contained palmitoleic acid and 3-hydroxy-decanoic acid as the major components of nonpolar and hydroxylated fatty acids, respectively. Marked differences were noted in the fatty acid composition between the strains with and without rhodoquinones. The chemotaxonomic data suggested that the rhodoquinone-lacking strains should be excluded from the genus Zoogloea. Since there have been no reliable taxonomic tools for Zoogloea, rhodoquinone analysis may provide a new criterion of great promise for identifying Zoogloea strains.