Abstract
Recently, a novel species, Mycobacterium yongonense (DSM 45126T), was introduced and while it is phylogenetically related to Mycobacterium intracellulare, it has a distinct RNA polymerase β-subunit gene (rpoB) sequence that is identical to that of Mycobacterium parascrofulaceum, which is a distantly related scotochromogen, which suggests the acquisition of the rpoB gene via a potential lateral gene transfer (LGT) event. The aims of this study are to prove the presence of the LGT event in the rpoB gene of the M. yongonense strains via multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). In order to determine the potential of an LGT event in the rpoB gene of the M. yongonense, the MLSA based on full rpoB sequences (3447 or 3450 bp) and on partial sequences of five other targets [16S rRNA (1383 or 1395 bp), hsp65 (603 bp), dnaJ (192 bp), recA (1053 bp), and sodA (501 bp)] were conducted. Incongruences between the phylogenetic analysis of the full rpoB and the five other genes in a total of three M. yongonense strains [two clinical strains (MOTT-12 and MOTT-27) and one type strain (DSM 45126T)] were observed, suggesting that rpoB gene of three M. yongonense strains may have been acquired very recently via an LGT event from M. parascrofulaceum, which is a distantly related scotochromogen.
Highlights
From a clinical and epidemiological perspective, the members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) are the most important nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)
The aims of the current study are two-fold: the first is to discover the epidemiologic features of M. yongonense from an infection cohort previously identified as M. intracellulare and the second is to prove the presence of the lateral gene transfer (LGT) event in the RNA polymerase b-subunit gene (rpoB) gene of the M. yongonense strains via multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA)
In order to determine the potential of an LGT event in the rpoB gene of M. yongonense, the MLSA based on full rpoB sequences (3447 or 3450 bp) and partial sequences of the other five targets [16S rRNA (1383 or 1395 bp), hsp65 (603 bp), dnaJ (192 bp), recA (1053 bp), and sodA (501 bp)] were applied to a total of seven mycobacteria strains: three M. yongonense (MOTT-12, MOTT-27 and DSM 45126T), two M. intracellulare strains (MOTT-02 and ATCC 13950T), and two M. parascrofulaceum strains (MOTT-01 and ATCC BAA-614T)
Summary
From a clinical and epidemiological perspective, the members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) are the most important nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). It was reported that M. intracellulare related strains from Korean patients showed more genetic diversity; the strains can be divided into a total of five distinct groups using the sequence analysis of hsp, internal transcribed spacer and 16S rRNA genes [5]. The informative genes associated with the central dogma of bacteria, such as the 16S rRNA gene or the RNA polymerase gene (rpoB), have been reported to be recalcitrant to lateral gene transfer (LGT) events. The LGT events of informative genes within the genus Mycobacterium have been disclosed in two recent reports. M. yongonense proved to have a distinct RNA polymerase gene (rpoB) sequence identical to that of M. parascrofulaceum, which is a distantly related scotochromogen, suggesting that the rpoB gene was acquired via a potential LGT event [8]
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