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Microbiology

Bacterial transmission tactics

Nature volume 543, pages 495–496 (2017)Cite this article

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Genome sequencing of Mycobacterium abscessus strains that infect the lungs suggests a possible shift in the bacterium's mode of infection from environmental acquisition to human transmission. This finding has clinical implications.

Next-generation DNA sequencing has revolutionized infectious-disease research and surveillance, and allows the evolutionary history of pathogens to be observed at a resolution unimaginable just a decade ago. The technique offers a particularly useful way to investigate outbreaks of any emerging infectious pathogens, because high-throughput testing of bacterial or viral genomes can determine the genetic relatedness of strains. Mycobacterium abscessus causes human disease in several tissues and organs, including the lungs1, and people with cystic fibrosis have a weakened lung defence that makes them particularly vulnerable to M. abscessus infection2. This bacterial infection has increased in prevalence3, which is of concern because of the microbe's virulence and drug resistance. Bryant et al.4 set out to investigate the rise of this infection in individuals with cystic fibrosis, and, writing in Science, report a sequencing analysis of more than 1,000 clinical strains of M. abscessus from around the world.

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Figure 1: Possible change in the transmission mode of a bacterial infection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michael Strong and Rebecca M. Davidson are in the Center for Genes, Environment and Health, National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA.,

    Michael Strong & Rebecca M. Davidson

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  1. Michael Strong
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  2. Rebecca M. Davidson
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Correspondence to Michael Strong or Rebecca M. Davidson.

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Strong, M., Davidson, R. Bacterial transmission tactics. Nature 543, 495–496 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/543495a

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