Genomic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis strains isolated from bovine in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Taís Ramalho Dos Anjos; Vinícius Silva Castro; Edson Silva Machado Filho; Philip Noel Suffys; Harrison Magdinier Gomes; Rafael Silva Duarte; Eduardo Eustáquio de Souza Figueiredo; Ricardo César Tavares Carvalho

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.1006090

Genomic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis strains isolated from bovine in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Front Vet Sci. 2022 Nov 16:9:1006090. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1006090. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Taís Ramalho Dos Anjos¹, Vinícius Silva Castro², Edson Silva Machado Filho³, Philip Noel Suffys³, Harrison Magdinier Gomes³, Rafael Silva Duarte⁴, Eduardo Eustáquio de Souza Figueiredo⁵, Ricardo César Tavares Carvalho¹

Affiliations

¹ Programa de Pós-graduação em Biociência Animal - Stricto Sensu, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Cuiabá (UNIC), Cuiabá, Brazil.
² Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência Animal, Faculdade de Agronomia e Zootecnia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, Brazil.
³ Laboratório de Biologia Molecular Aplicado a Micobactérias, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratório de Micobactérias, Departamento de Microbiologia Médica, Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁵ Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular de Alimentos, Faculdade de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, Brazil.

Abstract

The species Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis (M. tuberculosis var. bovis) is associated with tuberculosis, mainly in cattle and buffaloes. This pathogen has the potential to infect other mammals, including humans. Tuberculosis caused by M. tuberculosis var. bovis is a zoonosis clinically identical to tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the recommended treatment in humans results in the use of antibiotics. In this study, we used the whole genome sequencing (WGS) methodology Illumina NovaSeq 6000 System platform to characterize the genome of M. tuberculosis var. bovis in cattle circulating in Mato Grosso, identify mutations related to drug resistance genes, compare with other strains of M. tuberculosis var. bovis brazilian and assess potential drug resistance. Four isolates of M. tuberculosis var. bovis of cattle origin representing the main livestock circuits, which had been more prevalent in previous studies in the state of Mato Grosso, were selected for the genomic study. The genome sizes of the sequenced strains ranged from 4,306,423 to 4,332,964 bp, and the GC content was 65.6%. The four strains from Mato Grosso presented resistance genes to pncA (pyrazinamide), characterized as drug-resistant strains. In addition to verifying several point mutations in the pncA, rpsA, rpsL, gid, rpoB, katG, gyrB, gyrA, tlyA, embA, embB, embC, fgd, fbiB, and fbiC genes, these genes were similar to antibiotic resistance in more than 92% of the Brazilian strains. Therefore, our results indicated a high genetic diversity between our isolates and other M. tuberculosis var. bovis isolated in Brazil. Thus, multiple transmission routes of this pathogen may be present in the production chain. So, to achieve a bovine tuberculosis-free health status, the use of the WGS as a control and monitoring tool will be crucial to determine these transmission routes.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis; drug resistance; mutation; phylogeny; zoonosis.