Identification of virulence determinants of Mycobacterium avium that impact on the ability to resist host killing mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium avium is an opportunistic pathogen associated with pulmonary disease in non-AIDS patients and disseminated infection in patients with AIDS. The chief route of infection is by colonization and invasion of the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract, but infection through the respiratory route also occurs. After crossing the mucosa, M. avium infects and replicates within tissue macrophages. To identify M. avium genes required for survival in vivo, a library of signature-tagged transposon mutants was constructed and screened for clones attenuated in mice. Thirty-two clones were found to be attenuated for their virulence, from which eleven were sequenced and tested further. All the mutants studied grew similarly in vitro to the wild-type MAC104. Ten mutants were tested individually

SUBMITTER: Li YJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2887559 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature