ABSTRACT
Validation of liquid chemical sterilization methods requires identification of bioburden isolates. A highly reliable microbial identification system is available and can be used to support a company’s environmental monitoring program. The fact that microbes differ qualitatively and quantitatively in their fatty acid composition has given rise to a convenient, rapid and accurate method of identification: fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis. A fatty acid is a chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms with a carboxylic acid functional group at the alpha end of the molecule. Fatty acids may be saturated, as in stearic acid, or unsaturated, as in oleic acid. Microorganisms are identified utilizing the FAME method by extracting the fatty acids from a monomicrobic population and analyzing them by a gas liquid chromatography system. The hydrophilic glycerol molecules to which fatty acids are bonded are located in the outer portions of the membrane in contact with the aqueous environments inside and outside the cell.
