Gas chromatography of bacterial whole cell methanolysates. VII. Fatty acid composition of Acinetobacter in relation to the taxonomy of Neisseriaceae.

The cellular fatty acids of seventeen Acinetobacter strains were determined. Most acids identified were previously found in neisseriae and moraxellae. Specific for Acinetobacter was 2-hydroxydodecanoid acid and a few minor unidentified components. The fatty acid data were analysed by numerical methods and compared with previous results obtained for neisseriae and moraxellae. The findings were consistent with genetic evidence for some affinities of genus Acinetobacter to genus Moraxella and "false neisseriae". Occasionally, a high resemblance in fatty acid pattern was demonstrated between a Moraxella strain and certain strains of Acinetobacter, and also between an Acinetobacter strain and certain "true neisseriae". Still, the acinetobacters constituted one single cluster separated from the other genera of Neisseriaceae.