Analysis of the Capsule of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the other pathogenic mycobacteria examined so far by electron microscopy are seen to be surrounded within host cells by an electron-transparent zone (ETZ). For Mycobacterium lepraemurium , this space between the phagosomal membrane of the infected cellthe wall of the enclosed bacteria was called a “capsular space” (1 ). Using light microscopic techniques (2 –4 ), Hanks demonstrated the presence of an unstainable “halo” around some pathogenic mycobacteria and pointed out (5 ) that what appeared to be a capsule could be seen in several published images of pathogenic mycobacteria