Metabolism of Plasma Membrane Lipids in Mycobacteria and Corynebacteria

Bacteria of the Corynebacterineae, a suborder of the Actinobacteria, comprise Mycobacterium, Corynebacterium, Nocardia, Rhodococcus and other genera. This suborder of high GC gram-positive bacteria includes a number of important human pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and Corynebacterium diphtheriae, the causative agents of tuberculosis, leprosy and diphtheria, respectively. M. tuberculosis is the most medically significant species, a devastating human pathogen infecting around onethird of the entire human population and responsible for more than 1 million deaths annually. The Corynebacterineae also includes non-pathogenic species such as Mycobacterium smegmatis, a saprophytic species, and Corynebacterium glutamicum, an industrial workhorse for the production of amino acids and other useful compounds. These relatively fast-growing species serve as useful models to study metabolic processes essential to the growth and survival of the slow-growing pathogens.