Molecular Evolution of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest and deadliest human infectious disease. Only innovative tools will allow realistic approximations to TB eradication. This project aims at filling key knowledge gaps on fundamental biological aspects of TB including the microevolutionary dynamics of M. tuberculosis. This undertaking is challenged by technical difficulties including the inability of gold standard sequencing technologies to provide reliable information on parts of the M. tuberculosis genome. This project is based on a combination of different sequencing technologies, bioinformatics and experimental genetics approaches to characterize M. tuberculosis clinical isolates. Overall, we will provide advances for the understanding of evolutionary mechanisms likely to influence the capacity of M. tuberculosis to adapt to relevant selective pressures often dictating drug resistance and disease severity.

Funding Agency

FCT

Project Reference

–

Project Members

Nuno S. Osório

Principal Investigator Project Leader

Maria Isabel Veiga

Principal Investigator

Carlos Magalhães

PhD Student

Main Project Outcomes

Publications

Rocha, D. M. G. C., Viveiros, M., Saraiva, M., & Osório, N. S. (2021). The Neglected Contribution of Streptomycin to the Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Problem. In Genes (Vol. 12, Issue 12, p. 2003). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12122003
Rocha, D. M. G. C., Magalhães, C., Cá, B., Ramos, A., Carvalho, T., Comas, I., Guimarães, J. T., Bastos, H. N., Saraiva, M., & Osório, N. S. (2021). Heterogeneous Streptomycin Resistance Level Among Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains From the Same Transmission Cluster. In Frontiers in Microbiology (Vol. 12). Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.659545
Santos-Pereira, A., Magalhães, C., Araújo, P. M. M., & Osório, N. S. (2021). Evolutionary Genetics of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and HIV-1: “The Tortoise and the Hare.” In Microorganisms (Vol. 9, Issue 1, p. 147). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010147
Sousa, J., Cá, B., Maceiras, A. R., Simões-Costa, L., Fonseca, K. L., Fernandes, A. I., Ramos, A., Carvalho, T., Barros, L., Magalhães, C., Chiner-Oms, Á., Machado, H., Veiga, M. I., Singh, A., Pereira, R., Amorim, A., Vieira, J., Vieira, C. P., Bhatt, A., … Saraiva, M. (2020). Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with severe tuberculosis evades cytosolic surveillance systems and modulates IL-1β production. In Nature Communications (Vol. 11, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15832-6