A Cooperative Taxonomic Study of Mycobacteria Isolated from Armadillos Infected with Mycobacterium leprae

Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, B-2018 Antwerp, Belgium Centre de Recherche de Biochimie et Génétique Cellulaires du CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, F-31062 Toulouse, France Tuberculosis Department, Statens Seruminstitut, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark School of Chemistry, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK Department of Biochemistry, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA Public Health Laboratory, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF4 4XW, UK Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, 1098SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands ABSTRACT SUMMARY: Seventeen strains of mycobacteria, recovered from six armadillos experimentally infected with Mycobacterium leprae , were examined in ten different laboratories. This collaborative study included use of conventional bacteriological tests, lipid analyses, determination of mycobactins and peptidoglycans, characterization by Py-MS, and immunological, metabolic, pathological and DNA studies. These armadillo-derived mycobacteria (ADM) formed five homogeneous groups (numbered ADM 1 to 5) on the basis of phenetic analyses. However, DNA studies revealed only four homogeneous groups since group ADM 1 and one of the two strains in group ADM 3 showed a high level of DNA relatedness. The phenetic and DNA studies confirmed that the ADM strains differed from all other known mycobacteria. Cultural, biochemical, metabolic and pathogenic properties as well as DNA-DNA hybridizations clearly differentiated these ADM from M. leprae. Present address: Glaxo Group Research Ltd, Greenford UB6 0HE, UK.