Abstract
Mycobacterium ulcerans and Other Mycolactone-Producing Mycobacteria Should Be Considered a Single Species
Highlights
Defining a bacterial species has become an increasingly difficult task, when bacteria exhibit different phenotypes but are genetically very closely related
The low relative hybridisation ratios (RBR) is explained by a number of features unique to M. ulcerans, such as the presence of a large virulence plasmid required for mycolactone production, and multiple copies of the insertion sequence element IS2404 that itself accounts for 6% of the M. ulcerans genome [2,5]
Phylogenetic studies of more than 50 M. ulcerans, other mycolactone-producing mycobacteria (MPM), and M. marinum strains, based on multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA) of chromosomal and pMUM sequences and studies of large DNA InDel polymorphisms, indicate that all MPM have likely evolved from a common M. marinum progenitor [5,11,12] and have diverged again into two distinct lineages, with both lineages bearing strains that cause Buruli ulcer [5,13] (Figure 1)
Summary
Defining a bacterial species has become an increasingly difficult task, when bacteria exhibit different phenotypes but are genetically very closely related. M. ulcerans and M. marinum are genetically related species that cause quite different human skin diseases.
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