[A rapid method for determining the fatty acid composition of lipid A]

Lipid A is the most conservative part of LPS. Its fatty acids composition can serve as an important taxonomic marker of bacteria. The isolation of LPS and studying their chemical composition are difficult and protracted procedure. We propose the rapid method of determining the prevailed fatty acids of lipid A without isolation of LPS from the cell. The essence of the method is in the release of cell from the lipids which are not components of LPS. These lipids, in contrast to the lipid A, are more easily extractable from the cell structures. The fatty acids, which prevailed in the lipid-free cells, are the structural components of lipid A.