FATTY-ACID ESTERS OF SUGARS IN MYCOBACTERIA AND RHODOCOCCI

We studied the composition of cellular lipids of 13 strains of mycobacteria and rhodococcus. When grown in the presence of high glucose concentrations, all of these strains contained, amongst their main glycolipids, and in addition to 6,6'-dimycolates, also 6-monomycolates of alpha,alpha-D-trehalose and other, previously unknown, fatty acid esters of glucose. The former two glycolipids were present in three strains in approximately equal amounts, whilst in 8 other strains the monomycolates predominated, their concentrations exceeding the other glycolipids by a factor of 4-8 in four of these strains. We concluded that these compounds were not only the biogenetic precursors of the corresponding dimycolates, but that they also participated in the formation of cell walls.