An unusual genetic switch controls <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> pathogenesis, antibiotic resistance and colony morphology.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis (Mah) is an emerging environmental pathogen highly adapted to a wide range of niches, from treated water systems to mammalian tissues. On solid media, Mah forms two distinct colony morphologies, smooth transparent (SmT) and smooth opaque (SmO). These colony morphologies are representative of broader differential phenotypic states in which SmT cells are virulent and have high resistance to antibiotics while SmO cells are avirulent, antibiotic-sensitive and grow faster than SmT cells in culture. Importantly, Mah interconverts between these two morphotypes but the mechanism of SmT-SmO switching is unknown. Here we show that SmT-SmO switching is governed by a reversible transposition event that regulates expression o

SUBMITTER: Nilsson HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12324328 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature