Abstract
RECENTLY, biochemical methods have been proposed to differentiate various types of mycobacteria without resorting to their growth characteristics or animal pathogenicity. Thus human tubercle bacilli can be distinguished from all other types of mycobacteria by determining their nicotinic acid production (Konno's niacin test)1. Bovine and avian tubercle bacilli would be differentiated from other mycobacteria by determining the activity of nicotinamidase2 and urease3, respectively. As for the other types of mycobacteria, namely, unclassified mycobacteria and saprophytic mycobacteria, however, such a reliable method has hitherto not been reported. Bönicke4 and Kitamura14 attempted to sub-divide unclassified mycobacteria by the amidase activity of bacterial suspension.
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References
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NAGAYAMA, H., KONNO, K. & OKA, S. Formamidase in Mycobacteria and its Use in differentiating Saprophytic Mycobacteria from other Mycobacteria. Nature 190, 1219–1220 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/1901219a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1901219a0
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