[Determination of the specificity of microbial esterases in vivo]

Gas chromatography is used to determine the specificity of microbial esterases in vivo. The technique is based on hydrolysis by the cells of esters of fatty acids containing different alcohol groups. The specificity was evaluated by means of the coefficient Kc which changed from 0 to 1 and did not depend on the time of hydrolysis. The esterases of M lysodeicticus were more specific than the esterases of S. marcescens by a factor of 30 during hydrolysis of the equimolar mixture of methyl ester of pelargonic acid and ethyl ester of caprylic acid. This criterium of specificity may be used for rapid identification of bacteria.