The free lipids of Mycobacterium leprae harvested from experimentally infected nine-banded armadillos.

The free lipids of a sample of Mycobacterium leprae were extracted by a procedure designed to produce separate non-polar and polar fractions. The composition of these lipids was analysed semi-quantitatively by five special thin-layer chromatographic systems covering the total range of mycobacterial lipid polarities. In order of increasing polarity, the major lipids were dimycocerosates of phthiocerol A, phthiocerol B and phthiodiolone A, glycosyl phenolphthiocerol dimycocerosates and phospholipids, including monoacylphosphatidylinositol di- and pentamannosides. The diacylated forms of these latter lipids, found in most mycobacteria, were not present. The composition of the free lipids of the leprosy bacillus, surveyed over the total polarity range for the first time, showed that the patterns were particularly related to those of Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium marinum.