Signatures of transmission in within-host Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex variation: a retrospective genomic epidemiology study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) species evolve slowly, so isolates from individuals linked in transmission often have identical or nearly identical genomes, making it difficult to reconstruct transmission chains. Finding additional sources of shared MTBC variation could help overcome this problem. Previous studies have reported MTBC diversity within infected individuals; however, whether within-host variation improves transmission inferences remains unclear. Here, we aimed to quantify within-host MTBC variation and assess whether such information improves transmission inferences.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective genomic epidemiology study in which we reanalysed publicly available sequence data from household transmission studies published in PubMed f

SUBMITTER: Walter KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11777664 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature