Mycobacterium abscessus clinical isolates

The NTM species Mycobacterium abscessus causes chronic pulmonary, soft-tissue, and disseminated infections. M. abscessus infections are extremely difficult to treat due to their numerous intrinsic resistance mechanisms. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether known intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance genes are under ongoing selection, and determine whether identified genetic variants are associated with differences in the minimum inhibitory concentration. To investigate this question, we performed whole genome sequencing on a set of over 100 M. abscessus complex isolates with paired antimicrobial susceptibility data.