The Free Lipids of Mycobacterium leprae Harvested from Experimentally Infected Nine-banded Armadillos

Abstract

The free lipids of a sample of M. leprae, harvested from armadillos, were extracted by a procedure designed to produce separate non-polar and polar fractions. The composition of these lipids was analyzed semi-quantitatively by 5 special TLC systems covering the total range of mycobacterial lipid polarities. In order of increasing polarity, the major lipids were dimycocerosates of phthiocerol A, phthiocerol B and phthiodiolone A, glycosyl phenolphthiocerol dimycocerosates and phospholipids, including monoacylphosphatidylinositol di- and pentamannosides. The diacylated forms of these latter lipids, found in most mycobacteria, were not present. The composition of the free lipids on the leprosy bacillus, surveyed over the total polarity range for the 1st time, showed that the patterns were particularly related to those of M. bovis, M. kansasii and M. marinum.