Total
lipids were extracted from Mycobacterium tuberculosis with
chloroform-
methanol (2:1), applied on a
silica-gel thin-layer plate, and developed with
chloroform-
methanol-
acetone (90:10:5).
Glycolipids were detected by spraying
Anthrone-
reagent and heating. Strain H37Rv of M.
tuberculosis showed four
Anthrone-positive spots, namely
trehalose-monomycolate, unidentified
glycolipid,
trehalose-dimycolate and GL-Rv, and strain H37Ra showed only two spots corresponding to
trehalose-monomycolate and
trehalose-dimycolate. Other 4 laboratory-stock strains of M.
tuberculosis showed
glycolipid-pattern identical with either of these two patterns. One hundred and fifty-eight strains of M.
tuberculosis, isolated clinically from
tuberculosis patients, were classified into 7 types according to their
glycolipid-pattern. Twenty-seven strains contained one more
Anthrone-positive spot other than those of strain H37Rv. Pattern II was most frequently observed (60 strains), and then pattern I (33 strains), VI (29 strains), IV (13 strains), V (9 strains), VII (8 strains), and III (6 strains). Pattern I corresponded to that of strain H37Ra and pattern VI corresponded to that of strain H37Rv.
Glycolipid-pattern did not correlate to clinical features of patients from whom the bacilli had been isolated. A
glycolipid, which moved to just under the
solvent front, was a new
glycolipid which has been found by us and designated as GL-Rv. Chemical structure of GL-Rv was clarified by us as
trehalose-polyacyl derivatives (no
mycolic acid as the acyl residue).
Glycolipid-pattern was very stable and reproducible for each strain of M.
tuberculosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)