Cellular Fatty Acid Profile of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and its Relation to Pathogenicity

Cellular Fatty Acid Methyl Esters Profile (FAME) of a reference strain and three Sudanese field isolates of Corynebacterium (C) pseudotuberculosis was characterized by gas liquid chromatography. The Cellular Fatty Acids (CFAs) were liberatedfrom whole cells by base hydrolysis, methylated and analyzedby gas-liquid chromatography. The principal fatty acids in C. pseudotuberculosis whole cell methylates were methyl laurate, methyl myristate, methyl palmitoleate, methyl palmitate, methyl oleate and unknown with retention time 23.825. The FAME profile of C. pseudotuberculosis isolates which were highly pathogenic in mice revealed high total area of palmitoleate (39.053%0) and oleate (36.973%) while the least pathogenic showed high content of myristate (68.506%).