Mycobacteria, which cause tuberculosis and related diseases, possess a diverse set of complex envelope lipids that provide remarkable tolerance to antibiotics and are major virulence factors that drive pathogenesis. Recently, metabolic labeling and bio-orthogonal chemistry have been harnessed to develop chemical probes for tagging specific lipids in live mycobacteria, enabling a range of new basic and translational research avenues. A toolbox of probes has been developed for labeling mycolic acids and their derivatives, including trehalose-, arabinogalactan-, and protein-linked mycolates, as well as newer probes for labeling phthiocerol dimycocerosates (PDIMs) and potentially other envelope lipids. These lipid-centric tools have yielded fresh insights into mycobacterial growth and host interactions, provided new avenues for drug target discovery and characterization, and inspired innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

导致结核病和相关疾病的分枝杆菌具有多种复杂的包膜脂质，它们对抗生素具有显着的耐受性，并且是驱动发病机制的主要毒力因子。最近，代谢标记和生物正交化学已被用于开发用于标记活分枝杆菌中特定脂质的化学探针，从而为一系列新的基础和转化研究途径提供了可能。已开发出用于标记霉菌酸及其衍生物的探针工具箱，包括海藻糖、阿拉伯半乳聚糖和蛋白质连接的霉菌酸盐，以及用于标记邻苯二酚二霉菌酸 (PDIM) 和可能的其他包膜脂质的新型探针。这些以脂质为中心的工具对分枝杆菌生长和宿主相互作用产生了新的见解，