Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Motoko Watanabe, Professor David Minnikin
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
Total mycolic acid methyl ester fractions were isolated from 24 representatives of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis (including BCG), Mycobacterium microti, Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium avium. The total mycolate functional group composition was estimated from H-1-NMR spectra. Mycolates were separated into alpha -mycolates, methoxymycolates and ketomycolates and each class was further separated by argentation chromatography into mycolates with no double bonds, with one trans-double bond and with one cis-double bond. Mass spectrometry revealed the mycolate chain lengths and H-1-NMR the cis- and trans-double bond and cyclopropane ring content. The same species had similar mycolate profiles; the major type of each class had cis- or trans-cyclopropane rings and lacked double bonds. Minor proportions of possible unsaturated precursors of the cyclopropane mycolates were commonly encountered. Among unusual a-mycolates, many strains had tricyclopropyl components with chains extended by 6 to 8 carbons. Significantly, M. tuberculosis (Canetti) and M. avium had alpha -mycolates with a trans-double bond and cyclopropane ring, whose chain lengths suggested a relationship to possible precursors of oxygenated mycolates. The methoxy and ketomycolates from a majority of M. tukerculosis strains had minor amounts of components with additional cyclopropane rings, some of whose chains were also extended by 6 to 8 carbons. These latter mycolates were major components in the attenuated M. tukerculosis H37Ra strain, whose mycolate profile was distinct from those of other strains of M. tukerculosis.
Author(s): Watanabe M, Aoyagi Y, Ridell M, Minnikin DE
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Microbiology
Year: 2001
Volume: 147
Pages: 1825-1837
ISSN (print): 1350-0872
ISSN (electronic): 1465-2080
Publisher: Society for General Microbiology
