title: Genetic diversity and population structure of Mycobacterium marinum: new insights into host and environmental specificities.
abstract: Mycobacterium marinum causes a systemic tuberculosis-like disease in fish and skin infections in humans that can spread to deeper structures, resulting in tenosynovitis, arthritis, and osteomyelitis. However, little information is available concerning (i) the intraspecific genetic diversity of M. marinum isolated from humans and animals; (ii) M. marinum genotype circulation in the different ecosystems, and (iii) the link between M. marinum genetic diversity and hosts (humans and fish). Here, we conducted a genetic study on 89 M. marinum isolates from humans (n = 68) and fish (n = 21) by using mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) typing. The results show that the M. marinum population is genetically structured not only according to the host but also according to the ecosystem as well as to tissue tropism in humans. This suggests the existence of different genetic pools in the function of the biological and ecological compartments. Moreover, the presence of only certain M. marinum genotypes in humans suggests a different zoonotic potential of the M. marinum genotypes. Considering that the infection is linked to aquarium activity, a significant genetic difference was also detected when the human tissue tropism of M. marinum was taken into consideration, with a higher genetic polymorphism in strains isolated from patients with cutaneous forms than from individuals with deeper-structure infection. It appears that only few genotypes can produce deeper infections in humans, suggesting that the immune system might play a filtering role.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1058 Infection by HIV and by agents with mucocutaneous tropism: from pathogenesis to prevention, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Broutin
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bañuls
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aubry
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Keck
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Choisy
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bernardet
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Raymond
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Libert
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnaud
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stragier
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Portaels
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Terru
authors.forename: Claudine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belon
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dereure
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: Maria-Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Boschiroli
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van De Perre
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cambau
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Godreuil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D058448:Biota; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D005399:Fishes; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D019910:Mycobacterium marinum / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial