Cord factor, or trehalose dimycolate, is a glycolipid molecule found in the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and similar species.
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16 Facts About Cord factor
2.
Cord factor is virulent towards mammalian cells and critical for survival of M tuberculosis in hosts, but not outside of hosts.
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3.
Cord factor has been observed to influence immune responses, induce the formation of granulomas, and inhibit tumor growth.
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4.
Cord factor molecule is composed of a sugar molecule, trehalose, composed of two glucose molecules linked together.
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5.
Large quantity of cord factor is found in virulent M tuberculosis, but not in avirulent M tuberculosis.
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6.
When cord factor is added back to those cells, M tuberculosis survives at a rate similar to that of its original state.
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7.
Function of cord factor is highly dependent on what environment it is located, and therefore its conformation.
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8.
Cord factor protects M tuberculosis from the defenses of the host.
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9.
Cord factor remains on the surface of M tuberculosis cells until it associates with a lipid droplet, where it forms a monolayer.
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10.
The length of the carbon chain on cord factor has shown to affect toxicity; a longer chain shows higher toxicity.
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11.
However, it is likely that the mycolic acids of cord factor must undergo a cyclopropyl modification to lead to a response from the host's immune system for initial infection.
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12.
Cord factor is thus able to obstruct oxidative phosphorylation and the electron transport chain in mitochondrial membranes.
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13.
In mice, cord factor has shown to cause atrophy in the thymus through apoptosis; similarly in rabbits, atrophy of the thymus and spleen occurred.
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14.
However, cord factor can serve as a useful model for all pathogenic glycolipids and therefore it can provide insight for more than just itself as a virulence factor.
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15.
Hydrophobic beads covered with cord factor are an effective tool for such research; they are able to reproduce an organism's response to cord factor from M tuberculosis cells.
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16.
Cord factor beads are easily created and applied to organisms for study, and then easily recovered.
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