The Chemistry of the Lipids of Tubercle Bacilli
نویسندگان
چکیده
In the analysis of the purified wax (1) isolated from the human tubercle bacillus it was found that the principal ether-soluble constituent was a hydroxy acid of very high molecular weight which was designated by the term “unsaponifiable wax” (2). This substance has been the subject of further studies, the results of which are reported in this paper. The so called waxes of the human tubercle bacillus are exceedingly. complex mixtures and they show great differences in composition. Some of the wax fractions that we have examined contain large quantities of carbohydrates, for instance the purified wax (1) and the unfiltrable lipid (3); again, other fractions, such as the soft wax (4), are complex glycerides. The carbohydrate components when present are easily split off by treatment with alcoholic potassium hydroxide, the wax being thus separated into two fractions, (a) water-soluble carbohydrate and (b) ether-soluble compounds. The ether-soluble components consist of a mixture of fatty acids and incompletely saponified wax-like material. The waxy substance can be separated from-the fatty acids by precipitation from ether solution with alcohol. The alcoholinsoluble material is extremely stable but on prolonged saponi-
منابع مشابه
The Chemistry of the Lipids of Tubercle Bacilli
The high percentage of lipids differentiates the tubercle bacillus and acidfast bacteria in general from other microorganisms. However, the amount of lipids in acid-fast. bacteria varies not only from strain to strain but also with the composition of the medium (1). Results obtained in this laboratory indicate that the lipids of the human tubercle bacillus, Strain H-37, when grown under identic...
متن کاملTHE DETECTION OF Mycobacterium tuberculosis BY PCR IN SPUTUM SAMPLES FROM LONG-TERMTREATED LEPROSY PATIENTS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH SKIN TEST RESULTS AND IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH Mycobacterium vaccae
As part of a series of investigations at Baba Baghi Leprosarium in lran, 44 long-treated leprosy patients were selected for our study. Samples of early morning sputum were obtained from each patient, examined by microscopy for acid-fast bacilli (AFB), and cultured for tubercle bacilli. These tests were negative, but the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for an insertion sequence believed to b...
متن کاملChemistry and biochemistry of some biologically active bacterial lipids.
Work, which was begun in the author's laboratory in 1948, on the chemistry of various lipid fractions of Mycobacteria and other acid-fast micro-organisms, has led to the identification and elucidation of the chemistry of a number of compounds having unusual structures and interesting biological activities. The principal compounds studied are branchedchain high molecular weight fatty acids, gl y...
متن کاملThe Chemistry of the Lipids of Tubercle Bacilli Xxvii. the Composition of the Phosphatide Fraction of the Bacillus Lepri*
In the first chemical analysis of the leprosy bacillus by Gurd and Denis (l), it was reported that the ether-soluble constituents contained phosphorus, and hence these authors suggested that lecithin was present, but beyond this mere suggestion nothing has been known regarding the nature of the phosphatide of Bacillus Zepm. As described in a former paper (2), we were able to secure about 100 gm...
متن کاملA suggested role of a host-parasite lipid complex in mycobacterial infection.
On the basis of our previous observations and related literatures, was assumed tht cholesterol esters of host origin and phthiocerol dimycocerosate of bacterial origin are located as a lipid mixture around the periphery of pathogenic mycobacteria growing in vivo, probably within the phagocytic vacuole of macrophages. To examine the role of such a postulated lipid complex in mycobacterial infect...
متن کامل