Mycobacterium leprae Genome sequencing

Leprosy remains a public health problem with over 210,000 registered cases worldwide and approximately that same number of new cases detected in 2009. Approaches to improve leprosy control are impeded by a lack of fundamental knowledge on the epidemiology of leprosy, the sources of infection, its precise mode of transmission, and the importance of contact patterns. Because M. leprae cannot be cultured on artificial media and skin biopsies often do not yield larger numbers of viable bacteria for animal passage, it is difficult to isolate sufficient high-quality DNA for sequencing. Using custom targeted capture technologies to enrich M. leprae DNA from field and clinical samples, we will sequence the complete genomes of M. leprae isolates not previously possible.