title: Ornithine lipid of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: its distribution in some slow- and fast-growing mycobacteria.
abstract: An ornithine-amide lipid is present in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Its structure was established by a combination of chemical analysis and mass spectrometry. 3-Hydroxyoctadecanoic and 3-hydroxyeicosanoic acids (and homologues) were found to be linked through an amide bond to the alpha-amino group of L-ornithine, the hydroxyl group of the fatty acid being esterified mainly by tuberculostearic acid (10-methyloctadecanoic acid). This ornithine-amide lipid was detected in several other slow-growing pathogenic mycobacteria by thin layer chromatography, but not in an avirulent strain (H37 Ra) of M. tuberculosis. In each case mass spectrometry showed that all the structures were identical, thus revising an earlier reported structure for the lipid from M. bovis.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Biochimie et Génétique Cellulaires du CNRS et Université P. Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lanéelle
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Promé
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lanéelle
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Promé
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000032:analysis* / Q000254:growth & development; D009952:Ornithine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008055:Lipids; C051524:ornithine containing aminolipid; D009952:Ornithine