Leprosy-derived chemoautotrophic nocardioform (CAN) bacteria closely resemble, or are identical with, Mycobacterium leprae on mycolate and other lipid profiles.

On the basis of thin layer chromatography and gas-chromatography-mass spectrometric studies, the lipid profiles of all the chemoautotrophic nocardioform (CAN) bacteria derived from human and animal leprosy tissues appear to be identical with each other, and closest to or identical with the most probable profile of M. leprae.