The higher fatty acid composition of 27 F. tularensis strains differing in their biological properties and belonging to different intraspecific taxons has been determined with the use of gas and liquid chromatography. All the strains under study have been found to possess similar fatty acid spectra, characterized by the presence of long straight-chain fatty acids (saturated and unsaturated) with the number of carbon atoms varying from 10 to 26. Quantitative differences content of individual fatty acids (C10:0, C14:0, C24:0) have been revealed in various F. tularensis subspecies, which can serve as an additional criterion for their differentiation. The peculiar features of the higher acid composition of F. Tularensis give grounds for considering this species to be taxonomically independent and characterize its intraspecific taxons by the quantitative content of individual fatty acids.