Seventy-five strains of acid-fast bacteria isolated from lesions of 196 cases of swine mycobacteriosis were identified as members of the MAT-complex. The isolates were classified by thin-layer chromatography of peptidoglycolipids (PGL) isolated from the bacteria and the seroagglutination test devised by Schaefer. These MAI-complex fell into serotype 8 (32 strains), serotype 9 (15 strains), serotype 11 (3 strains) and serotype 4 (2 strains). Sugar and fatty acid compositions of 20 serotype-specific-antigen PGL from the MAI-complex were determined by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The most common components of the carbohydrate moiety, such as 3, 4-di-O-methylrhamnose, 2-O-methylrhamnose, 2-O-methylfucose and 3-O-methylrhamnose, were identified by MS. On the other hand, the straight- and multibranched-chain fatty acids possessing C
30 or C
32 carbon atoms and long-chain 2-hydroxy fatty acids (2-OH C
31) were identified as characteristic components by GLC and GC/MS. These techniques gave useful information for the rapid identification of the species or serotypes of “atypical” mycobacteria in the clinical microbiology labolatory.
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