- M. tuberculosis has an unusual cell wall
- The unique characteristics of M. tuberculosis are due to their cell wall
- Some of these unique characteristics include:
- -Slow generation time
- -Difficulty to stain
- -Cord factor
- -Protected from lysis
- Cord factor- component in the cell wall of M. tuberculosis that produce strands of daughter cells that remained attached to one another in parallel alignments. These cord factors inhibit the migration of neutrophils and is toxic
to mammals - Mycobacterium that lacks the cord factor are non- pathogenic