title: How dormant is Mycobacterium tuberculosis during latency? A study integrating genomics and molecular epidemiology.
abstract: Mycobacterium tuberculosis may survive for decades in the human body in a state termed latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). We investigated the occurrence during LTBI of insertion/deletion events in a selected set of mononucleotide simple sequence repeats, DNA sequence changes in four M. tuberculosis genes, and large sequence variations in 4750 M. tuberculosis open reading frames. We studied 13 paired M. tuberculosis clinical isolates, with each pair representing a reactivation of LTBI more than three decades after primary infection. Absence of sequence variations between paired isolates in nearly all investigated loci suggests a low likelihood of bacterial replication during LTBI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, M5124 SPH II, 1415 Washington Heights, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. zhenhua@umich.edu
authors.forename: Zhenhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: Noah A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talarico
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marrs
authors.forename: Vibeke Østergaard
authors.initials: VØ
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.forename: Troels
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lillebaek
authors.forename: Aase B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology*