title: Association of pellicle growth morphological characteristics and clinical presentation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.
abstract: Trehalose 6,6'dimycolate (TDM) is a glycolipid found in nearly pure form on the surface of virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). This manuscript investigated the production of TDM, growth rate and colony morphology of multiple strains of MTB, each of which had been isolated from both pulmonary (sputum) and extrapulmonary sites of multiple patients. Since sputum contains MTB primarily from cavities and extrapulmonary biopsies are typically granulomas, this provided an opportunity to compare the behavior of single strains of MTB that had been isolated from cavities and granulomas. The results demonstrated that MTB isolated from pulmonary sites produced more TDM (3.23 ± 1.75 μg TDM/mg MTB), grew more rapidly as thin spreading pellicles, demonstrated early cording, and climbed culture well walls. In contrast, extrapulmonary isolates produced less TDM (1.42 ± 0.58 μg TDM/mg MTB) (p < 0.001) and grew as discrete patches with little tendency to spread or climb. Both Beijing pulmonary isolates and the non-Beijing pulmonary isolates produced significantly more TDM (1.64 ± 0.46 μg TDM/mg MTB) and grew faster than the Beijing and non-Beijing extrapulmonary isolates (1.14 ± 0.63 μg TDM/mg MTB) (p < 0.001 and p < 0.005 respectively). These results indicate that MTB from pulmonary sites (cavities) grows faster and produces more TDM than strains isolated from extrapulmonary sites (granulomas). This report suggests a critical role for TDM in cavitary TB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Ranjana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of HSC at Tyler and Heartland National TB Center, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Armitige
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wanger
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: shen-an.hwang@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Shen-An
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D003311:Cord Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006099:Granuloma / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D003311:Cord Factors
keywords: Beijing; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Trehalose dimycolate