Microbiology 9th Edition by Laura Black, Jacquelyn Black

Exercise 15

Certain bacteria, such as those that cause tuberculosis and lep rosy, have a lot of waxy lipid material in their cell walls. They are much more difficult to stain than are regular bacteria.You must expose them to steam heat in order to drive the stain in. Also, most antibiotics do not affect them. What chemical explanation can you suggest to explain these properties?