Long-term spatiotemporal evolution of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in China - PubMed
2 hours ago
- #tuberculosis
- #drug resistance
- #genomics
- The study analyzed over 18,000 Mtb genomes to trace the long-term evolution of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China.
- Resistance mutations to various drugs arose repeatedly, forming many small clades that emerged mainly in the last two decades.
- Transmission of these drug-resistant clades was mostly confined within provinces but could spread geographically due to human mobility and increased bacterial fitness.
- Researchers integrated genomic and CRISPRi screening data to identify mutations linked to the emergence and transmission of drug resistance.
- The findings emphasize the roles of human migration and bacterial adaptation in driving local epidemics of drug-resistant TB in China.