title: Within patient microevolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis correlates with heterogeneous responses to treatment.
abstract: Genetic heterogeneity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) within a patient has caused great concern as it might complicate antibiotic treatment and cause treatment failure. But the extent of genetic heterogeneity has not been described in detail nor has its association with heterogeneous treatment response. During treatment of a subject with MDR-TB, serial computed tomography (CT) scans showed this subject had six anatomically discrete lesions and they responded to treatment with disparate kinetics, suggesting heterogeneous MTB population may exist. To investigate this heterogeneity, we applied deep whole genome sequencing of serial sputum isolates and discovered that the MTB population within this patient contained three dominant sub-clones differing by 10 ~ 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Differential mutation patterns in known resistance alleles indicated these sub-clones had different drug-resistance patterns, which may explain the heterogeneous treatment responses between lesions. Our results showed clear evidence of branched microevolution of MTB in vivo, which led to a diverse bacterial community. These findings indicated that complex sub-populations of MTB might coexist within patient and contribute to lesions' disparate responses to antibiotic treatment.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences and Institute of Medical Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.|Tuberculosis Research Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Qingyun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tuberculosis Research Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.|Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, and the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: Laura E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Via
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences and Institute of Medical Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Sufang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Sino-US International Research Center of Tuberculosis, ZhengZhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Qingyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xianglin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: Henan Provincial Chest Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Sino-US International Research Center of Tuberculosis, ZhengZhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Guolong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tuberculosis Research Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.|Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, and the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: Clifton E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences and Institute of Medical Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.|Sino-US International Research Center of Tuberculosis, ZhengZhou 450003, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics