Clinical Microbiology: Open Access

Comparative genomics of non-tuberculous mycobacteria: Ecological and clinical implications

6^th Clinical Microbiology Conference

October 20-22, 2016 Rome, Italy

Antoni Bennasar-Figueras

Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clin Microbiol

Abstract:

The species classified as non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or rapid growing mycobacteria (RGM) are widely distributed in the environment and some of them are considered as emerging opportunistic pathogens. Nosocomial infections caused by NTM are usually difficult to treat due to their resistance to antibiotics or other external factors. The next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are opening new frontiers to different fields and clinical microbiology is not an exception. The main objectives of this work imply the genome sequencing of NTM isolates (especially type strains), the identification of gene families, functional characterization, comparative analysis applying several clustering algorithms and the description of the core-pangenome of NTM. Briefly, the results obtained showed different rates of genome evolution and exclusive genes for each species (pangenes). Interestingly, the pangenome analysis of NTM has revealed also the presence of toxin-antitoxins (TA) systems in several of the strains compared. Curiously, most of the TA systems discovered in NTM are also present in M. tuberculosis. Furthermore, a brand new TA system has been discovered. The toxic potential of the proposed toxins and its neutralization with the hypothetical antitoxins have been tested in vitro. All together, contributes to improve the NTM evolution knowledge, as well as to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying their ability to adapt to different ecological niches; i.e., the resistome, the toxin-antitoxin systems or their ability to form biofilms. All these aspects affect the human�??s lifestyle. Definitively, the new NGS based information may lead to important breakthroughs, both in biotechnology and clinical microbiology.

Biography :

Antoni Bennasar-Figueras has completed his PhD at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), Spain and Postdoctoral research at the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF), Germany. He is the Profesor of Microbiology and Member of the Microbiology Research Group at the UIB. He has specialized in the application of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies to the genome and comparative analysis of several microorganisms (Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium and Streptococcus). He has published more than 30 articles in well-known journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of recognized journals like Environmental Microbiology, Systematic and Applied Microbiology, The ISME Journal or PLoSOne.

Email: toni.bennasar@uib.es