Evolution and emergence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mickael Orgeur (1) , Camille Sous (1) , Jan Madacki (1, 2) , Roland Brosch (1)

1 Pathogénomique mycobactérienne intégrée - Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics
2 Génétique Evolutive Humaine - Human Evolutionary Genetics

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in human history, prevailing even in the 21st century. The causative agents of TB are represented by a group of closely related bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), which can be subdivided into several lineages of human- and animal-adapted strains, thought to have shared a last common ancestor emerged by clonal expansion from a pool of recombinogenic Mycobacterium canettii-like tubercle bacilli. A better understanding of how MTBC populations evolved from less virulent mycobacteria may allow for discovering improved TB control strategies and future epidemiologic trends. In this review, we highlight new insights into the evolution of mycobacteria at the genus level, describing different milestones in the evolution of mycobacteria, with a focus on the genomic events that have likely enabled the emergence and the dominance of the MTBC. We also review the recent literature describing the various MTBC lineages and highlight their particularities and differences with a focus on host preferences and geographic distribution. Finally, we discuss on putative mechanisms driving the evolution of tubercle bacilli and mycobacteria in general, by taking the mycobacteria-specific distributive conjugal transfer as an example.

Mots clés: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; evolution; genetic diversity; population dynamics; virulence; host-pathogen relationship

Domaines: Bactériologie; Biodiversité; Génétique des populations [q-bio.PE]

Mickael Orgeur, Camille Sous, Jan Madacki, Roland Brosch. Evolution and emergence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 2024, 48 (2), pp.fuae006. ⟨10.1093/femsre/fuae006⟩. ⟨hal-04566137⟩