FIG. 6.
Gas chromatograms of FAMEs from various strains of M. tuberculosis. FAMEs were extracted from various strains of M. tuberculosis and analyzed by gas chromatography as described in the Materials and Methods. The identity of fatty acid peaks was confirmed by using authentic fatty acid standards. Relative percentages of fatty acids were calculated and are indicated on each chromatogram. FID and TBS represent flame ionization detector and tuberculostearic acid, respectively. The values shown are averages of three independent experiments ± standard deviations. (A) M. tuberculosis; (B) MtbΔvirS; (C) Mtbmym::hyg, (D) MtbΔvirS_virS. Accumulation of C26:0 and C24:0 in the mutant strains is indicated by arrows. These experiments were repeated three times with similar results.