Immunodiffusion analyses of environmental mycobacteria isolated in Zaire.

Unclassified, acid-fast strains isolated from the environment in Zaire were analysed by comparative immunodiffusion for taxonomical purposes. These strains have previously been shown to differ physiologically and/or biochemically from all other known mycobacteria. The analyses confirmed that these strains belong to genus Mycobacterium and showed, furthermore, that they were more closely related to the slowly growing mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, than to the rapidly growing ones. The result of the serological analyses also confirmed a previous grouping of these unclassified strains. An antigen designated beta which, in all probability, is a ribonucleoprotein was shown in all but two of the test strains.