Variability in intrinsic drug tolerance in <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> corresponds with phylogenetic lineage.

ABSTRACT: Drug tolerance allows bacteria to survive extended exposure to bactericidal drugs and is thought to play a role in drug resistance evolution. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), multidrug-resistant TB outbreaks are frequently caused by strains belonging to two phylogenetic lineages of the human-adapted strains of the Mtb complex, namely, lineages (L) 2 and L4. We hypothesized that members of L2 and L4 are more intrinsically drug tolerant and, as such, more readily evolve drug resistance. To explore this, we devised a high-throughput in vitro assay to measure drug tolerance in Mtb. We selected a cohort of strains representative of the globally most frequent lineages, L1-L4. We measured tolerance to rifampicin and bedaquiline and found

SUBMITTER: March VFA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12691649 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature