Abstract:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been a serious threat to human health globally. In the past 10 years, more achievements on the study of tuberculosis by Chinese scientists have gained worldwide acceptance. However, the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and increasing drug resistance remain to be major problems for tuberculosis control in China. Currently, we have to put efforts on the translation of the tuberculosis basic research and focus on the important clinical issues. Based on the progress of the genome sequencing, it has been found that all genetic events occurring in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome evolution play an important role in all aspects including biological properties, pathogenicity and drug resistance. For example, a pyrophosphohydrolase mutation identified by the genome comparison revealed the loss of virulence of the avirulent strain H37Ra. Analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome microevolution will be beneficial to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis.

Key words: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, genome microevolution, prevention, diagnosis