FATTY-ACID AND POLAR LIPID ANALYSIS AS TOOLS IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAE AND SOME RELATED SLOW-GROWING MYCOBACTERIAL SPECIES

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. B133  (1) , 29-37
Abstract
Some species of slow-growing mycobacteria, including M. leprae (1 strain), M. lepraemurium (2 strains), M. paratuberculosis (12 strains) and a group of 12 M. avium-like strains (isolates from wild animals) were examined by gas chromatography (GC) for cellular fatty acids and by TLC for polar lipids. All the GC patterns, including that of M. leprae, contained high levels of tuberculostearic, stearic, octadecenoic and palmitic acid. Tetradecanoic, pentadecanoic, hexadecenoic and heptadecanoic acid were also generally present but in lower concentrations. In addition to these acids shared by all strains, each bacterial species or group was found to exhibit compounds which were not detected (or detected in considerably lower quantities) in the other taxa examined. Thus, each bacterial species or group could be distinguished by its GC profile. The corresponding TLC patterns were also rather complex. A total of 39 different spots were distinguished: a few of these were shared by all strains; some were characteristic of certain species or groups; and others were strain-specific. Both M. leprae and M. lepraemurium shared several features with the other strains but could be distinguished from each other and from the others by their patterns of slow-moving (polar) spots. The 12 M. avium-like strains were divided into 2 main groups, one with only a few slow-moving spots (rough strains), and one with several slow-moving spots (smooth strains) which included the M. avium reference strains.