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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Biofilms
Published on: February 15, 2012
[Characterization of slowly-growing mycobacteria species by capillary gas chromatography]
Abstract:
A method for the characterization of mycobacteria species by capillary gas chromatography is described. After strains of mycobacteria being hydrolyzed, saponified in an acidic solution, various methyl esters resulted from mycobacteria were studied on an OV-101 column at optimum chromatographic conditions. The constituents of 9 slowly-growing mycobacteria species were analyzed and the results showed that there were obvious differences between different mycobacteria species, but same characteristics were observed between strains of the same species. The 9 species can be identified by the ratio of peak height of C18:1, C18:0 and TBSA. They are C18:1>TBSA>C18:0 for M. tuberculosis, C18:0>C18:1>TBSA for M. triviale, TBSA>C18:1>C18:0 for M. intracellulare, TBSA>C18:0>C18:1 for M. avium and C18:1>C18:0>TBSA for M. bovis, M. kansasii, M. gordonae, M. nonchromogenicum and M. terrae respectively. The 5 latter species can be distinguished by the presence of characteristic peaks of iC16:1 and C19:0. 75 strains of clinical isolated mycobacteria were analysed at the same chromatographic conditions. The results showed that they belonged to 9 different species. The accuracy of the proposed method was examined according to biological analysis.
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