THE INTERMEDIARY METABOLISM OF THE MYCOBACTERIA

Abstract

The act of making an addition to the overwhelming literature on acid-fast bacteria needs an excuse, if not an apology. No other bacterial group has received quite the same flattering attention or yielded in return so rich a harvest of chemical knowledge; yet no other group has more stubbornly resisted all efforts to expose the intimate secrets of its metabolism. This paradox is the excuse for an article on the intermediate changes. Studies of the chemical composition of the mycobacteria have maintained their popularity for sixty years and have created a body of fundamental knowl-edge which was summarized in a recent review by Florence Seibert (82). Not less important is the consolidated knowledge of growth and nutritional re-quirements which has been assembled from a voluminous literature by Calmette (13), Wells and Long (89) and Knight (57). Since these compilations were published the literature has enlarged substantially. It is interspersed with numerous metabolic investigations, most of which have followed the usual pattern of balance studies conducted on a medium for the purpose of determining