Enzymes within the biosynthetic pathway of mycolic acid (C(60)-C(90) a-alkyl,b-hydroxyl fatty acid) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are attractive targets for developing new anti-tuberculosis drugs. We have turned to the simple model system of Corynebacterium matruchotii to study the terminal steps in the anabolic pathway of a C32 mycolic acid called corynomycolic acid. By transposon-5 mutagenesis, we transformed C. matruchotii into a mutant that is unable to synthesize corynomycolic acid. Instead, it synthesized two related series of novel fatty acids that were released by saponification from the cell wall fraction and from two chloroform/methanol-extractable glycolipids presumed to be analogues of trehalose mono- and di-corynomycolate. By chemical analyses and MS, we determined the general structure of the two series to be 2,4,6,8,10-penta-alkyl decanoic acid for the larger series (C(70)-C(77)) and 2,4,6,8-tetra-alkyl octanoic acid for the smaller series (C(52)-C(64)), both containing multiple keto groups, hydroxy groups and double bonds. The mutant was temperature-sensitive, aggregated extensively, grew very slowly relative to the wild type, and was resistant to the presence of lysozyme. We suggest that a regulatory protein that normally prevents the transfer of the condensation product back to b-ketoacyl synthase in the corynomycolate synthase system of the wild type was inactivated in the mutant. This will result in multiple Claisen-type condensation and the formation of two similar series of these complex hybrid fatty acids. A similar protein in M. tuberculosis would be an attractive target for new drug discovery.