Differentiation of free-living Anabaena and Nostoc cyanobacteria on the basis of fatty acid composition.

The cellular fatty acids of free-living, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria belonging to the genera Anabaena and Nostoc were analyzed to differentiate the genera. The fatty acid compositions of 10 Anabaena strains and 10 Nostoc strains that were grown for 12 days on BG-11o medium were determined by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Of the 53 fatty acids detected, 17 were major components; the average level for each of these 17 fatty acids was at least 0.9% of the total fatty acids (in at least one of the genera). These fatty acids included (with mean percentages in the Anabaena and Nostoc strains, respectively) the saturated fatty acids 16:0 (30.55 and 23.23%) and 18:0 (0.77 and 1.27%); several unsaturated fatty acids, including 14:1 cis-7 (2.50 and 0.11%), 14:1 cis-9 (3.10 and 3.41%), a polyunsaturated 16-carbon (sites undetermined) fatty acid with an equivalent chain length of 15.30 (1.20 and 1.03%), 16:4 cis-4 (0.95 and 0.87%), 16:3 cis-6 (2.16 and 1.51%), 16:1 cis-7 (1.44 and 0.36%), 16:1 cis-9 (6.53 and 18.76%), 16:1 trans-9 (4.02 and 1.35%), 16:1 cis-11 (1.62 and 0.42%), 18:2 cis-9 (10.16 and 12.44%), 18:3 cis-9 (18.19 and 17.25%), 18:1 cis-9 (4.01 and 5.10%), and 18:1 trans-9 (0.92 and 1.94%); and the branched-chain fatty acids iso-16:0 (2.50 and 1.14%) and iso-15:1 (0.34 and 2.05%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)