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α-mycolic acid (MA), methoxy cis comprises 84–88 carbon atoms like the other types keto and hydroxy MA. All the MA types are synthesized from hydroxylated intermediate, with methoxy M generated by the action of enzyme methoxylase.
Mycolic acid is a long Fatty acid found in the cell walls of the mycolata taxon, a group of bacteria that includes Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of the disease tuberculosis.

Methoxy mycolic acids are antigenic and are specific for pathogenic mycobacterial class. The three types of mycolic acids including the methoxy-MA display variation in their antigenicity with reference to antibody recognition.