Chemotaxonomy of Actinobacteria

Actinobacterial classification was originally based largely on morphological observation; it is not adequate in itself to differentiate between many genera, because some are so sim‐ ilar morphologically, but differ from their diagnostic chemical composition. In search of reliable classification methods reflecting phylogenetic relationships, at least to the genus level, it has been demonstrated that the analyses of chemotaxonomic markers fulfill these requirements. Chemotaxonomy of actinobacteria is concerned with the distribution of specific chemicals of the cell envelope such as amino acid, sugar, polar lipids, menaqui‐ nones, and fatty acid. For some coryneform genera of actinobacteria, analysis of mycolic acid composition is required specially. In this chapter, we will introduce the methods of chemotaxonomy including the extraction, fractionation, purification, and analysis of the target compounds.