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Abstract
Cell-wall fractions from Mycobacterium lepraemurium were examined chemically and immunologically. The major sugar and amino acid components detected were arabinose and galactose, alanine, glutamic acid, a,e-diaminopimelic acid (DAP) and hexosamine, but substantial amounts of aspartic acid, glycine, valine, serine, threonine, leucine and wo-leucine were also present in preparations not extracted with neutral lipid solvents and alkaline ethanol. However, after such extraction and treatment with proteolytic enzymes, alanine, glutamic acid and DAP (1·5:1·0:1·0) were present in much larger amounts than any other amino acids (not more than 0·15), indicating that these three are the mucopeptide constituents. Cell-wall agglutination tests indicated the presence of an antigen shared with other mycobacteria.
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