Comprehensive metagenomic analysis of nontuberculous mycobacteria

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K16643
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 49050:Bacteriology-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Matsumoto Yuki 大阪大学, 微生物病研究所, 特任研究員(常勤) (30749114)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 非結核性抗酸菌症 / 病原体検出 / MLST / 全ゲノムシーケンシング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The prevalence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) pulmonary diseases has been increasing worldwide. NTM consist of approximately 200 species and distinguishing between them at the subspecies level is critical to treatment. We developed a novel multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) database based on 184 genes from 7547 assemblies and an identification software, mlstverse, which can also be used for detecting other bacteria given a suitable MLST database. This method demonstrated the capacity for rapid detection of NTM, 10 min of sequencing of the ONT MinION being sufficient. Application of this methodology could improve disease epidemiology and increase the cure rates of NTM diseases.

Free Research Field

ゲノミクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

NTM症は難治性の呼吸器疾患の総称であり，NTMはおよそ200種が知られ，亜種の違いにより異なる薬剤耐性を示す．そのため治療方針決定のためには亜種レベルの正確な同定が要求され，これまでの手法では正確な同定を行うことは困難であった．本研究ではこの同定を，正確かつ短期間で行う手法を確立した．これによりNTM症診断にかかる期間は従来の4-8週間から数日に短縮されるため，より早期の確定診断・治療開始が可能となり，より良い治療方法の確立へ繋がることが期待される．