Mycolic acids are unique long chain fatty acids found in the lipid-rich cell walls of mycobacteria including the tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Essential for viability and virulence, enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of mycolic acids represent novel targets for drug development. This is particularly relevant to the impact on global health given the rise of multidrug resistant and extensively drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how mycolic acid are synthesised, especially the potential role of specialised fatty acid synthase complexes. Also, we examine the role of a recently reported mycolic acid transporter MmpL3 with reference to several reports of the targeting of this transporter by diverse compounds with anti-M. tuberculosis activity. Additionally, we consider recent findings that place mycolic acid biosynthesis in context of the cell biology of the bacterium, viz its localisation and co-ordination with the bacterial cytoskeleton, and its role beyond maintaining cell envelope integrity.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 May 2025.
All research outputs
#7,143,242
of 33,695,692 outputs
Outputs from Molecular Microbiology
#1,983
of 7,849 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#68,068
of 297,205 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Molecular Microbiology
#8
of 70 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,695,692 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 78th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,849 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 297,205 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 70 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.
