Identification of major slowly growing pathogenic mycobacteria and Mycobacterium gordonae by high-performance liquid chromatography of their mycolic acids.

A rapid, reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method was used to detect rho-bromophenacyl mycolic acid ester patterns for strains of four major pathogenic Mycobacterium species and for the most commonly encountered saprophytic species, Mycobacterium gordonae. Mycobacteria in low numbers (2.5 X 10(6) CFU) were detected and identified to the species level. Standard chromatographic patterns characteristic of each species were established. Simple pattern recognition enabled rapid identification of M. tuberculosis, M. kansasii, M. avium, M. intracellulare, and M. gordonae.