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Within-host genetic micro-diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the link with tuberculosis disease features
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Edité par CCSD -
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) complex, is still the number one deadly contagious disease. Mtb infection results in a wide spectrum of clinical presentations and severity symptoms, but without proven Mtb genetic determinants. Thanks to a collection of 355 clinical isolates with associated patient’s clinical data, we showed that Mtb micro-diversity within patient isolates is strongly correlated with TB-associated severity scores. Interestingly, this diversity is driven by a selection pressure to adapt to different lifestyles related to the infection site. Taken together, these results provide a new insight to better understand TB pathophysiology. Furthermore, Mtb micro-diversity could be envisioned as a new prognostic tool to improve the management of TB patients.