Nutritional Characteristics of the Atypical Mycobacteria

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Abstract
The ability of Mycobacterium kansasii and groups II and III of the atypical mycobacteria to utilize oleic acid, as well as selected carbohydrates and other compounds, as sources of C for growth was compared with that of the H37Rv and H37Ra strains of M. tuberculosis. The highest rate of growth of all of the mycobacteria examined occurred in the medium containing oleic acid as the C source when single substrates were tested. The H37Ra strain of M. tuberculosis and all of the atypical mycobacteria examined, except the P-8 strain of M. kansasii, displayed a deficiency in ability to utilize glucose for growth. The deficiency was manifested as delayed appearance of growth, suboptimal growth or complete inability to utilize the sugar. Variant substrains or organisms that possessed an enhanced ability to utilize glucose for growth were isolated from representative strains of M. kansasii and groups II and III atypical mycobac-teria inoculated on modified Kirchner glucose-agar and incubated for an extended period of time.