Classification of Mycobacterilum farcinogenes and Mycobacterilum senegalense by Immunodiffusion and Thin-layer Chromatography of Long-chain Components

Comparative immunodiffusion studies and thin-layer chromatographic analyses of wholeorganism acid methanolysates were performed on 3 7 strains of Mycobacterium farcinogenes, Mycobacterium senegalense and Nocardia farcinica. The latter were clearly distinguished from the mycobacteria in containing a single mycolic acid methyl ester and showing more precipitinogens with nocardial than with mycobacterial and rhodococcal reference systems. The distribution of precipitinogens showed that M . farcinogenes and M. senegalense were very closely related and that both showed a greater affinity to Mycobacterium fortuitum than to any of the other established species of Mycobacterium tested. The complex pattern of a-mycolates and characteristic polar mycolates found in both M. farcinogenes and M. senegaleme has only previously been found in M. fortuitum and Mycobacterium smegmatis.