Out Of Mesopotamia: Evolutionary History Of Tuberculosis
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 13:21
in Paleontology & Archaeology
The evolutionary timing and spread of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), one of the most successful groups of bacterial pathogens, remains largely unknown. Using mycobacterial tandem repeat sequences as genetic markers, scientists show that the MTBC consists of two independent clades, one composed exclusively of M. tuberculosis lineages from humans and the other composed of both animal and human isolates.