Fatty acid profiles MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry Microorganisms synthesize over 200 different fatty acids. The presence of specific acids and their relative amounts are constant for a particular species. Since the 1960s, bacteria and fungi are identified by gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acids, which were previously derivatized to methyl esters. The technique has also been used to identify wood-decay fungi like Phanerochaete chrysosporium, P. sordaria, Trametes versicolor, T. hirsuta, and T. pubescens (Diehl et al. 2003). The technique of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was developed in the 1980s, and was used in many fields for peptide, protein, and nucleic acid analyses Otirgens 2004; Welker et al. 2004). The method was suitable to differentiate and identify viruses, bacteria, and fungi (yeasts and Deuteromycetes) (e.g., Fenselau and Demirev 2001). In MALDI-TOF MS, biomolecules and even whole cells
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