Research & Initiatives
High-throughput identification of Mycobacterium avium antibiotic tolerance genes
A genome-wide transposon screen was used to elucidate M. avium genes that play a role in the bacterium’s tolerance to first- and second-line antibiotics. A total of 193 unique M. avium mutants with significantly altered susceptibility to at least one of the four clinically used antibiotics tested, including two mutants (in DFS55_00905 and DFS55_12730) with panhypersusceptibility. The products of the antibiotic tolerance genes identified may represent novel targets for future drug development studies aimed at shortening the duration of therapy for MAC infections.
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M. tuberculosis drives dysregulation of mitochondrial transfer RNA–derived fragments (tRFs) in macrophages.
Using a novel miRge2.0-based tRF-analysis tool, tRFcluster, to analyze independently generated and publicly available RNA-sequencing datasets following infection of macrophages with various bacteria, we found that M. tuberculosis infection uniquely increases the expression of mitochondria-derived tRFs rather than genomic-derived tRFs, suggesting an association with mitochondrial damage in Mtb infection.
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Integrative Multi-Omics Reveals Serum Markers of Tuberculosis in Advanced HIV.
Plasma samples were analyzed by microRNA omics, metabolomics, and multiplex cytokine/chemokine arrays to identify an integrative signature associated with incident TB in cases vs. controls with advanced HIV infection.
