To evaluate the potential contribution of extracellular enzymes to the pathogenicity of mycobacteria, the presence of selected enzyme activities was investigated in the culture filtrates of the obligate human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis BCG, the opportunistic pathogens M. kansasii and M. fortuitum, and the non-pathogenic species M. phlei and M. smegmatis. For M. tuberculosis a...

The in vitro susceptibility of human- and bovine-origin Mycobacterium paratuberculosis to the thioupurine drugs 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and azathioprine (AZA) was established using conventional plate counting methods and the MGIT 960 ParaTB culture system. Both 6-MP and AZA had antibacterial activity against M. paratuberculosis; isolates from Crohn's disease patients tended to be more susceptib...

The chemical and enzymatic composition and the respiratory components of an intact membrane preparation, ghosts from Mycobacterium phlei, were compared to those of the electron transport particles. The ghosts were found to contain 5 to 7% of some of the soluble enzymes associated with the cytoplasm. In contrast, 97% of the total content of cytochromes b, cl + c, and a + a3 was found in the ghos...

New and better drugs are needed for tuberculosis (TB), particularly for the multi-drug resistant (MDR) disease. However, the highly infectious nature of MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis restricts its use for large scale screening of probable drug candidates. We have evaluated the potential of a screen based on a 'fast grower' mycobacterium to shortlist compounds which could be active against MDR ...