Competency of human-derived Mycobacterium leprae to use palmitic acid in the synthesis of phenolic glycolipid-I and phthiocerol dimycocerosate and to release CO2 in axenic culture.
Insufficient numbers of viable Mycobacterium leprae have hampered metabolic studies using human-derived M. leprae. In this study, sufficient numbers of M. leprae were obtained from an untreated lepromatous patient to titrate the effects of pH on the metabolism of 14C-palmitic acid by M. leprae. Catabolic metabolism (oxidation of 14C-palmitic acid and release of 14CO2) was maximal when M. leprae were incubated at 33 degrees C and suspended in Middlebrook 7H9, ADC supplemented medium that had been buffered to maintain a pH of 4.8. Anabolic metabolism (synthesis of 14C-phenolic glycolipid-I and its precursor, 14C-phthiocerol dimycocerosate) was maximal when the pH was maintained at 6.8.
Shannon
E J
EJ
G. W. Long Hansen's Disease Center, Carville, Louisiana.
Harris
E B
EB
Haile-Mariam
H S
HS
Guebre-Xavier
M
M
Frommel
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D019308:Palmitic Acid; D010169:Palmitic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D006017:Glycolipids; D008055:Lipids; D010169:Palmitic Acids; C045169:phenolic glycolipid I, Mycobacterium leprae; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D019308:Palmitic Acid; C008901:phthiocerol dimycocerosate