Table 1. Comparative analysis of biochemical characteristics of MIP with other related mycobacteria.
| Sr. No. | Tests* | M. chimaera | M. seoulense | M. arosiense | M. intracellulare | MIP | M. vaccae | M. fortuitum | M. smegmatis | M. pheli |
| 1 | Rate of growth | S | S | S | S | R | R | R | R | R |
| 2 | Pigment | S | S | S | S | N | N | N | N | S |
| 3 | Temperature | |||||||||
| a) 25°C | + | + | − | + | + | + | + | + | + | |
| b) 37°C | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | |
| c) 45°C | − | − | + | − | + | − | − | + | + | |
| 4 | Colony type | smooth | smooth | smooth | variable | smooth | smooth | smooth | smooth | rough |
| 5 | Growth on MacConkey agar | − | − | − | − | − | − | + | − | − |
| 6 | Growth on 5% NaCl | − | − | − | − | + | + | + | + | + |
| 7 | Tween 80 hydrolysis (5 days) | − | − | − | − | − | + | − | + | + |
| 9 | Urease production | − | − | − | − | − | + | + | + | + |
| 10 | Nitrate reduction | − | + | + | − | + | +/− | + | + | + |
| 12 | Aryl sulfatase (3 days) | − | − | − | − | − | − | + | − | − |
| 13 | Aryl sulfatase (14 days) | -na- | − | − | − | + | + | + | + | + |
| 14 | Catalase semi-quantitative | − | − | − | − | + | + | + | + | + |
| 15 | Heat resistant Catalase | + | − | + | +/− | + | + | + | + | + |
(R): rapid growers, (N): no pigmentation, (S): scotochromogene, (+): positive, (−): negative, (+/−): presence in some strains of species but not in all, (na): data not available, variable: inconsistent colony type (smooth/rough/translucent/opaque) [* as per the tests performed in Saxena et al. [18], Katoch VM [19] and this study].