Eleology- A Modest Proposal

A proposal to create a new name for our specialty: Eleology.

Phenolic glycolipids of Mycobacterium bovis: new structures and synthesis of a corresponding seroreactive neoglycoprotein

The glycolipid that characterizes the majority of isolates of Mycobacterium bovis and that has come to be known as M. bovis-identifying lipid is the phenolic glycolipid mycoside B described in the literature by others. However, when mycoside B obtained from M. bovis BCG, field isolates, and infected tissues was examined in detail, it was shown to be different from that described in the literature in some important respects. In particular, the glycosyl substituent is 2-O-methyl-alpha-L-rhamnopyranose rather than 2-O-methyl-beta-D-rhamnopyranose. With this information, a seroreactive neoglycoprotein (neoantigen) containing the 2-O-methyl-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl substituent suitable for the serodiagnosis of bovine tuberculosis was synthesized. M. bovis also contains other minor seroreactive phenolic glycolipids, one of which is a deacylated form of mycoside B and another of which contains an alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl unit rather than 2-O-methyl-alpha-L-rhamnopyranose.

Characterization of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis by gas-liquid and thin-layer chromatography and rapid demonstration of mycobactin dependence using radiometric methods

Thirty-six Mycobacterium paratuberculosis isolates of bovine, caprine, and ovine origins were evaluated by using gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and BACTEC 7H12 Middlebrook TB medium (12A; Johnston Laboratories, Inc., Towson, Md.) in an effort to more rapidly differentiate this group of organisms from other mycobacteria. Bacterial suspensions (0.1 ml) were inoculated by syringe into 7H12 broth containing 2 micrograms of mycobactin P per ml and control broth without mycobactin P. Cultures were incubated at 37 degrees C and read daily with a BACTEC Model 301 (Johnston Laboratories). After 8 days of incubation, the growth index readings for the test broths containing mycobactin P were twice those of the control broths without mycobactin P. Sixty-five isolates of mycobacteria other than M. paratuberculosis were also examined. No difference was noted between the growth index readings of control and mycobactin-containing broths. Except for Mycobacterium avium-Mycobacterium intracellulare, TLC studies differentiated M. paratuberculosis from the other mycobacterial species tested. The GLC data reveal that all M. paratuberculosis isolates had a distinctive peak (14A) which was not found among M. avium-M. intracellulare complex organisms. These data indicate that 7H12 radiometric broth was able to rapidly demonstrate the mycobactin dependence of M. paratuberculosis and GLC and TLC procedures were capable of rapidly differentiating this organism from the other mycobacteria studied.