Identification of the bacterial cellular lipid fraction by using fast GC × GC-MS and innovative MS libraries

The bacteria fatty acid (FA) profile has been extensively studied for taxonomic classification purposes, since bacteria, in general, contain particular and rare fatty acids, compared to animal and plant tissues. In the last few years, the concern about pathogenic microorganisms used as bioterrorist agents has increased; therefore, rapid methods for the characterization of bacteria are necessary. In the present research, a half-an-hour procedure, to analyze bacteria, was developed: a 2-min one-step sample preparation step, was followed by a relatively fast comprehensive 2D GC-MS separation (25 min). Furthermore, dedicated mass spectrometry libraries were constructed for bacteria and FA identification. Finally, data-processing was carried out with the support of novel comprehensive 2D GC software. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.