An updated evolutionary history and taxonomy of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 5, also called M. africanum

This study using both newly sequenced genomes and available public genomes allows to describe new L5 sublineages. We report that the MTBC L5 tree is made-up of at least 12 sublineages from which 6 are new descriptions. We confront our new classification to the most recent published one and suggest new naming for the discovered sublineages. Finally, we discuss the phylogeographical specificity of sublineages 5.1 and sublineage 5.2 and suggest a new hypothesis of L5-L6 emergence in Africa.