The mycobacterial cell wall is a complex and intriguing mixture of components which sets Mycobacterium tuberculosis apart from all other known bacterial species (Goodfellow and Minnikin 1984). To understand the M. tuberculosis cell wall, one must first consider the biology of the tubercle bacillus. Tuberculosis has long been known as a cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Indeed it is believed that one third of the word’s population is infected with M. tuberculosis (Sudre et al. 1992). Evidence of tuberculosis-like infections date back many thousands of years, and it is very likely that tuberculosis-related infections have plagued humankind since the dawn of civilization. M. tuberculosis is primarily an intracellular pathogen which resides within the phagolysosomes of alveolar macrophages. Perhaps as a consequence of this intracellular environment, the highly intricate features of the tubercle bacilli cell wall have undergone extensive evolutionary changes.
lipid, Mycobacteria, membrane, arabinogalactan, cell envelope, lipoarabinomannan, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, peptidoglycan
Publication DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-80166-2_1Publisher: Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Editors: Shinnick TM
Institutions: Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
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