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    Genome comparison of 259 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from different parts of world. Results indicate TB originated at least 70,000 years ago in Africa. Multidrug-resistance is a growing threat in the fight against the disease.

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    Genome comparison of 259 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from different parts of world. Results indicate TB originated at least 70,000 years ago in Africa. Multidrug-resistance is a growing threat in the fight against the disease.

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    20 views2 pages

    2013 09 Mycobacterium Tuberculosis African Years

    Uploaded by

    megascopio2866
    Genome comparison of 259 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from different parts of world. Results indicate TB originated at least 70,000 years ago in Africa. Multidrug-resistance is a growing threat in the fight against the disease.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Our African

    follower for over 70,000 years


    M. tuberculosis bacterial colonies. Image credit: Centers for Disease Control and
    Prevention.
    Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of deadliest infectious diseases of humans, killing 50% of individuals
    when left untreated. Even today, TB causes 1-2 million deaths every year mainly in developing
    countries. Multidrug-resistance is a growing threat in the fight against the disease.
    An international group of researchers led by Sebastien Gagneux from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health
    Institute (Swiss TPH) has now identified the origin in time and space of the disease. Using whole-genome
    sequencing of 259 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains collected from different parts of the world, they
    determined the genetic pedigree of the deadly bugs. This genome comparison to be published September
    1st in the journal Nature Genetics indicates that TB mycobacteria originated at least 70,000 years ago in
    Africa.
    Stunningly close relationship between humans and M. tuberculosis
    The researchers compared the genetic evolutionary trees of mycobacteria and humans side-by-side. And to
    the researcher's surprise, the phylogenetic trees of humans and the TB bacteria showed a very close match.
    "The evolutionary path of humans and the TB bacteria shows striking similarities," says Sebastien
    Gagneux.
    This strongly points to a close relationship between the two, lasting tens of thousands of years. Humans and
    TB bacteria not only have emerged in the same region of the world, but have also migrated out of Africa
    together and expanded all over the globe.
    The migratory behaviour of modern humans accompanied with changes in lifestyle has created favourable
    conditions for an increasingly deadly disease to evolve. "We see that the diversity of tuberculosis bacteria
    has increased markedly when human populations expanded," says evolutionary biologist Sebastien
    Gagneux.
    Human expansion in the so called Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT) period combined with new
    human lifestyles living in larger groups and in village-like structures may have created conditions for the
    efficient human-to-human transmission of the disease, Gagneux suggests. This may also have increased the
    virulence of the bacteria over time.
    The results indicate further that TB is unlikely to have jumped from domesticated animals to humans, as
    seen for other infectious diseases. "Simply, because Mycobacteria tuberculosis emerged long before
    humans started to domesticate animals," says Swiss TPH's Sebastien Gagneux.
    "Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Our African follower for over 70,000 years." Phys.org. 1 Sep 2013.
    http://phys.org/news/2013-09-mycobacterium-tuberculosis-african-years.html
    Page 1/2
    New strategies to defeat tuberculosis
    Tuberculosis remains a global threat. New drugs and vaccines are urgently needed to fight this
    poverty-related disease. Multidrug-resistance against first-line treatments is a growing threat in many
    countries. Therefore, the exploration of the evolutionary patterns of TB bacteria may help predicting future
    patterns of the disease. This may contribute to future drug discovery and to the design of improved
    strategies for disease control.
    More information: Out-of-Africa migration and Neolithic coexpansion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
    with modern humans. Iaki Comas, Mireia Coscolla, Tao Luo, Sonia Borrell, Kathryn E Holt, Midori
    Kato-Maeda, Julian Parkhill, Bijaya Malla, Stefan Berg, Guy Thwaites, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu, Graham
    Bothamley, Jian Mei, Lanhai Wei, Stephen Bentley, Simon R Harris, Stefan Niemann, Roland Diel,
    Abraham Aseffa, Qian Gao, Douglas Young & Sebastien Gagneux. Nature Genetics, AOP, Sept 1 2013.
    10.1038/ng.2744 dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.2744 Related:
    dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.2747
    dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.2735
    dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.2743
    Provided by Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
    This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, no part
    may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
    "Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Our African follower for over 70,000 years." Phys.org. 1 Sep 2013.
    http://phys.org/news/2013-09-mycobacterium-tuberculosis-african-years.html
    Page 2/2

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