Characterization of Two New Multidrug-Resistant Strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis: Tools for Routine In Vitro Screening of Novel Anti-Mycobacterial Agents
Patrick K. Arthur,
Vincent Amarh,
Precious Cramer,
Gloria B. Arkaifie,
Ethel J. S. Blessie,
Mohammed-Sherrif Fuseini,
Isaac Carilo,
Rebecca Yeboah,
Leonard Asare,
Brian D. Robertson
Affiliations
Patrick K. Arthur
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Vincent Amarh
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Precious Cramer
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Gloria B. Arkaifie
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Ethel J. S. Blessie
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Mohammed-Sherrif Fuseini
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Isaac Carilo
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Rebecca Yeboah
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Leonard Asare
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 54, Accra, Ghana
Brian D. Robertson
Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a pathogen of global public health concern. This threat is exacerbated by the emergence of multidrug-resistant and extremely-drug-resistant strains of the pathogen. We have obtained two distinct clones of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium smegmatis after gradual exposure of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 to increasing concentrations of erythromycin. The resulting resistant strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis exhibited robust viability in the presence of high concentrations of erythromycin and were found to be resistant to a wide range of other antimicrobials. They also displayed a unique growth phenotype in comparison to the parental drug-susceptible Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155, and a distinct colony morphology in the presence of cholesterol. We propose that these two multidrug-resistant clones of Mycobacterium smegmatis could be used as model organisms at the inceptive phase of routine in vitro screening of novel antimicrobial agents targeted against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterial tuberculosis.
