Abstract
Three different colonial variants of Mycobacterium avium complex were studied for their susceptibilities to capric, lauric, oleic, and linolenic acids. Smooth T variants with transparent and irregularly shaped colonies were much more resistant to all the fatty acids than were the smooth D variants with opaque and dome-shaped colonies. Rough variants with granular and irregularly shaped colonies showed nearly the same susceptibility to the fatty acids as did the smooth T variants.