title: The genetic portrait of an outbreak strain.
abstract: Unique events in the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including deletions and IS6110 insertions, have been proposed to be responsible for the virulence phenotype of outbreak strains. Based on this premise, we determined ten IS6110 insertion sites in the genome of the M. tuberculosis CH strain, which was responsible for a large outbreak in Leicestershire, England. Together with previous data on genomic deletions, it was found that 16 genes were mutated either by IS6110 insertions or deletions. The likely impact of these genomic events on the phenotype of the CH strain is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Leicester Medical School, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 9HN, UK. hy3@le.ac.uk
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yesilkaya
authors.forename: Ken J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Forbes
authors.forename: Jamila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shafi
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jeremy W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: Kumar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rajakumar
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Barer
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Andrew
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*