TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic determinants of intrinsic antibiotic tolerance in mycobacterium avium
AU - Matern, William M.
AU - Parker, Harley
AU - Danchik, Carina
AU - Hoover, Leah
AU - Bader, Joel S.
AU - Karakousis, Petros C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This publication was made possible by funding from the following to P.C.K.: R21AI114507 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a pilot research grant from the Sherrilyn and Ken Fisher Center for Environmental Infectious Diseases, Division of Infectious Diseases of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is one of the most prevalent causes of nontuberculous mycobacteria pulmonary infection in the United States, and yet it remains understudied. Current MAC treatment requires more than a year of intermittent to daily combination antibiotic therapy, depending on disease severity. In order to shorten and simplify curative regimens, it is important to identify the innate bacterial factors contributing to reduced antibiotic susceptibility, namely, antibiotic tolerance genes. In this study, we performed a genome-wide transposon screen to elucidate M. avium genes that play a role in the bacterium’s tolerance to first- and second-line antibiotics. We identified a total of 193 unique M. avium mutants with significantly altered susceptibility to at least one of the four clinically used antibiotics we tested, including two mutants (in DFS55_00905 and DFS55_12730) with panhypersusceptibility. The products of the antibiotic tolerance genes we have identified may represent novel targets for future drug development studies aimed at shortening the duration of therapy for MAC infections. IMPORTANCE The prolonged treatment required to eradicate Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection is likely due to the presence of subpopulations of antibiotic-tolerant bacteria with reduced susceptibility to currently available drugs. However, little is known about the genes and pathways responsible for antibiotic tolerance in MAC. In this study, we performed a forward genetic screen to identify M. avium antibiotic tolerance genes, whose products may represent attractive targets for the development of novel adjunctive drugs capable of shortening the curative treatment for MAC infections.
AB - The Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is one of the most prevalent causes of nontuberculous mycobacteria pulmonary infection in the United States, and yet it remains understudied. Current MAC treatment requires more than a year of intermittent to daily combination antibiotic therapy, depending on disease severity. In order to shorten and simplify curative regimens, it is important to identify the innate bacterial factors contributing to reduced antibiotic susceptibility, namely, antibiotic tolerance genes. In this study, we performed a genome-wide transposon screen to elucidate M. avium genes that play a role in the bacterium’s tolerance to first- and second-line antibiotics. We identified a total of 193 unique M. avium mutants with significantly altered susceptibility to at least one of the four clinically used antibiotics we tested, including two mutants (in DFS55_00905 and DFS55_12730) with panhypersusceptibility. The products of the antibiotic tolerance genes we have identified may represent novel targets for future drug development studies aimed at shortening the duration of therapy for MAC infections. IMPORTANCE The prolonged treatment required to eradicate Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection is likely due to the presence of subpopulations of antibiotic-tolerant bacteria with reduced susceptibility to currently available drugs. However, little is known about the genes and pathways responsible for antibiotic tolerance in MAC. In this study, we performed a forward genetic screen to identify M. avium antibiotic tolerance genes, whose products may represent attractive targets for the development of novel adjunctive drugs capable of shortening the curative treatment for MAC infections.
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U2 - 10.1128/Spectrum.00246-21
DO - 10.1128/Spectrum.00246-21
M3 - Article
C2 - 34523947
AN - SCOPUS:85119106160
SN - 2165-0497
VL - 9
JO - Microbiology Spectrum
JF - Microbiology Spectrum
IS - 2
ER -