ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOLIC ACIDS IN MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAE AND MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAEMURIUM

Abstract

Mycolic acids with a characteristic structure were isolated by high performance-liquid-chromatography and mass-spectrometry from a foot pad of a nude mouse inoculated with M. leprae. Mycolic acids with same structure were also obtained from mycobacteria collected from the liver of an armadillo with experimental leprosy. Mycolic acids were isolated from M. lepraemurium grown both in vivo and in vitro and these mycolic acids had different structures from those of M. leprae. Mycolic acid structures have great taxonomical significance. The methods used for isolating and analyzing mycolic acids for isolating and analyzing mycolic acids appear applicable for the rapid identification of M. leprae in samples containing at least 109-1010 mycobacterial cells. Mycolic acids with the same structure were found in mycobacteria from armadillos experimentally infected with M. leprae and from armadillos with naturally acquired leprosy-like disease. It is likely, therefore, that the pathogenic mycobacteria of the naturally acquired disease are the same as, or at least closely related to, M. leprae. Thus, M. leprae evidently has a special position in mycobacterial phylogeny.