Nature Communications (Jan 2018)

Phylogenomics and antimicrobial resistance of the leprosy bacillus Mycobacterium leprae

  • Andrej Benjak,
  • Charlotte Avanzi,
  • Pushpendra Singh,
  • Chloé Loiseau,
  • Selfu Girma,
  • Philippe Busso,
  • Amanda N. Brum Fontes,
  • Yuji Miyamoto,
  • Masako Namisato,
  • Kidist Bobosha,
  • Claudio G. Salgado,
  • Moisés B. da Silva,
  • Raquel C. Bouth,
  • Marco A. C. Frade,
  • Fred Bernardes Filho,
  • Josafá G. Barreto,
  • José A. C. Nery,
  • Samira Bührer-Sékula,
  • Andréanne Lupien,
  • Abdul R. Al-Samie,
  • Yasin Al-Qubati,
  • Abdul S. Alkubati,
  • Gisela Bretzel,
  • Lucio Vera-Cabrera,
  • Fatoumata Sakho,
  • Christian R. Johnson,
  • Mamoudou Kodio,
  • Abdoulaye Fomba,
  • Samba O. Sow,
  • Moussa Gado,
  • Ousmane Konaté,
  • Mariane M. A. Stefani,
  • Gerson O. Penna,
  • Philip N. Suffys,
  • Euzenir Nunes Sarno,
  • Milton O. Moraes,
  • Patricia S. Rosa,
  • Ida M. F. Dias Baptista,
  • John S. Spencer,
  • Abraham Aseffa,
  • Masanori Matsuoka,
  • Masanori Kai,
  • Stewart T. Cole

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02576-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Leprosy is caused by the yet-uncultured pathogen Mycobacterium leprae. Here, Benjak et al. obtain M. leprae genome sequences from DNA extracted from patients' skin biopsies and, by analysing 154 genomes from 25 countries, provide insight into the pathogen’s evolution and antimicrobial resistance.