Abstract

The traditional methods of bacterial identification are based on observation of either the morphology of single cells or colony characteristics. However, the adoption of newer and automated methods offers advantage in terms of rapid and reliable identification of bacterial species. The review provides a comprehensive appreciation of new and improved technologies such fatty acid profiling, sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI‑TOF), metabolic finger profiling using BIOLOG, ribotyping, together with the computational tools employed for querying the databases that are associated with these identification tools and high-throughput genomic sequencing in bacterial identification. It is evident that with the increase in the adoption of new technologies bacterial identification is becoming easier.

Key words: Bacteria, Biolog, computational tools, fatty acids, Gram staining, identification, metagenomics, morphology, MALDI-TOF MS, RiboPrinter, 16S rRNA gene.

Abbreviation

MALDI-TOF MS, Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry; TFA, trifluoroacetic acid; SEM, scanning electron microscopy; ISH, in situ hybridization; GC, gas chromatography; CFA, cellular fatty acid; FAME, fatty acid methyl ester analysis; PCR, polymerase chain reaction;RFLPs, restriction fragment length polymorphisms; HTS, high-throughput sequencing.