title: The Sculpting of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Genome by Host Cell-Derived Pressures.
abstract: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an incredibly successful pathogen with an extraordinary penetrance of its target host population. The ability to infect many yet cause disease in few is undoubtedly central to this success. This ability relies on sensing and responding to the changing environments encountered during the course of disease in the human host. This chapter discusses these environmental cues and stresses, and explores how the genome of Mtb has evolved under the purifying selections that they exert. In analyzing the response of Mtb to a broad range of intracellular pressures it is clear that, despite genome down-sizing, Mtb has retained an extraordinary flexibility in central carbon metabolism. We believe that it is this metabolic plasticity, more than any of the virulence factors, that is the foundation for Mtb's qualities of endurance.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Wonsik
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Shumin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Neelima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sukumar
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Podinovskaia
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Ruth J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Fahey
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Vanderven
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D012641:Selection, Genetic