Dubnau E, Chan J, Raynaud C, Mohan V P, Lanéelle M A, Yu K, Quémard A, Smith I, Daffé M
Public Health Research Institute, 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Mol Microbiol. 2000 May;36(3):630-7. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01882.x.
Members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis group synthesize a family of long-chain fatty acids, mycolic acids, which are located in the cell envelope. These include the non-oxygenated alpha-mycolic acid and the oxygenated keto- and methoxymycolic acids. The function in bacterial virulence, if any, of these various types of mycolic acids is unknown. We have constructed a mutant strain of M. tuberculosis with an inactivated hma (cmaA, mma4) gene; this mutant strain no longer synthesizes oxygenated mycolic acids, has profound alterations in its envelope permeability and is attenuated in mice.
结核分枝杆菌属的成员合成了一类长链脂肪酸——分枝菌酸，其位于细胞壁中。这些包括非氧化的α-分枝菌酸以及氧化的酮基和甲氧基分枝菌酸。这些不同类型的分枝菌酸在细菌毒力方面（如果有的话）的功能尚不清楚。我们构建了一种结核分枝杆菌突变株，其hma（cmaA，mma4）基因失活；该突变株不再合成氧化分枝菌酸，其细胞壁通透性发生了深刻变化，并且在小鼠中减毒。
