Development and Validation of a Probe-Based Captured WGS Method for Rapid Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Sputum and BALF Samples
This probe-based capture WGS approach provides a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective strategy for WGS of MTB directly from clinical respiratory specimens, ensuring reliable recovery of the hypervariable PE/PPE gene family while maintaining strong performance in low-bacterial-load and difficult-to-culture samples. This approach represents a robust and clinically translatable platform for rapid TB genomic diagnosis and surveillance, with considerable potential to strengthen both precision medicine and public health practice.