The mycolic acids of Mycobacterium chitae

Two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography of whole-organism acid methanolysates of Mycobacterium chitae gives a characteristic pattern composed of a α-mycolate, a lower molecular weight α'-mycolate and characteristic pairs of polar mycolates. Analysis of alkaline methanolysates confirmed that these polar mycolates were derived from epoxymycolic acids. This pattern of mycolic acids has only been found previously in representatives of Mycobacterium farcinogenes, Mycobacterium fortuitum, 'Mycobacterium peregrinum', Mycobacterium senegalense and Mycobacterium smegmatis.