TB Research

Identification and Characterization of Mycobacterial Species Using Whole-Genome Sequences

Riojas MA, Frank AM, Greenfield SR, King SP, Meehan CJ, Strong M, Wattam AR, Hazbón MH

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2021-01

Abstract

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has shown immense value in enabling identification and characterization of bacterial taxa. This is particularly true for mycobacteria, where culture-based characterization becomes delayed by the inherently slow growth rate of these organisms. This chapter reviews the general techniques behind WGS and their optimization, existing techniques for species-level identification and the advantages of WGS for this purpose, and a variety of useful tools for the genomic characterization of mycobacterial strains.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Genomics
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Whole Genome Sequencing