Genomic determinants of speciation and spread of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

ABSTRACT: Models on how bacterial lineages differentiate increase our understanding of early bacterial speciation events and the genetic loci involved. Here, we analyze the population genomics events leading to the emergence of the tuberculosis pathogen. The emergence is characterized by a combination of recombination events involving core pathogenesis functions and purifying selection on early diverging loci. We identify the phoR gene, the sensor kinase of a two-component system involved in virulence, as a key functional player subject to pervasive positive selection after the divergence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from its ancestor. Previous evidence showed that phoR mutations played a central role in the adaptation of the pathogen to different host species. Now,

SUBMITTER: Chiner-Oms A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6691555 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature