Tolerance of Mycobacterium sp. against organic solvents has been induced for the cholesterol side chain degradation by adding chemicals associated with synthesis of fatty acids or alcohols. Biotin of 300 .mu.g/1 and 0.5% aqueous ethanol solution were optima for the enhancement of ethanol tolerance of the microorganism. The induction of ethanol tolerance by biotin was found to be due to increase of degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids in membranous phospholipid of the cell, especially due to increase of oleic acid content. However when 0.5% of ethanol was added for the ethanol tolerance induction, there was an ambiguous correlation between ethanol tolerance and degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids, in spite of the fact that the induction increased the content of unsaturated fatty acids. Addition of 0.5% of ethanol induced several ethanol shock proteins having molecular weight similar to that of heat shock proteins.