Subject: Mycobacterium = Procaryote

From: [email-masked] (Scott Kellogg)
Date: 13 Apr 1995 03:27:18 GMT

Mycobacterium is as the name denotes, a bacterium.  Although the 
combining form 'myco' does mean fungus, M. tuberculosis has nothing to 
do with fungi except perhaps for the bacterial colony.  Some of the 
bacteria that are in the mycobacterial order are filamentous but they are 
all procaryotes and thus have nothing to do with fungi.  Mycobacteria 
have waxy coats and thus do not stain like 'true' or eubacteria and 
require a special staining procedure (acid-fasting staining).  See any 
microbiology textbook for more information.

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Scott T. Kellogg, Dept. of Microbiol., Mol. Biol. & Biochem.
Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-3052  Internet: [email-masked]
Phone: 208-885-6966      Fax: 208-885-6518