An improved method for the glycolate test for simple identification of the acyl type of bacterial cell walls.

Abstract

We reported previously a method for discriminating the acyl type of bacterial cell wall by quantitatively determining glycolic acid in the cell hydrolysate of the tested bacteria (1). The method is applicable to a variety of bacteria and was shown to be especially useful for the identification and classification of coryneform bacteria, mycobacteria, nocardiae and other actinomycetes (2, 3). This paper deals with a further attempt to simplify the column procedure and to shorten the time for the acyl residue liberation.