Mycobacterium prototuberculosis

The goal of this project is to analyse and compare the genomes of 4 distant strains of M. prototuberculosis with those of M. tuberculosis strains in order to:

 identify specific genome regions and evolutionary factors that may have contributed to the success of M. tuberculosis as a pathogen.
 to understand how the M. tuberculosis genome has been assembled from its ancestral genetic pool
 to re-define the extent of diversity of the tubercle bacilli

These findings may lead to development of new diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic applications against tuberculosis.

Each genome will be sequenced using a whole-genome shotgun strategy, based on a combination of Sanger sequencing with a library of small size inserts (average size of 3 kb) and minimal coverage of 4 X, and pyrosequencing using 454 GS20 technology with minimal coverage of 12 X.

Massive parallel sequencing with 50 X coverage using SOLEXA technology will optionally be used for further verification of the sequences obtained. A finishing step will be used for final assembly.

Contact: Valérie Barbe (Genoscope) - Philip Supply and Maria Cristina Gutierrez (INSERM/Institut Pasteur Lille) - Roland Brosch (Institut Pasteur - Paris)