Transcriptome analysis of mycobacteria in sputum samples of pulmonary tuberculosis patients

Sputum expectorated by the pulmonary tuberculosis patients still remains a primary diagnostic specimen. The expression pattern of mycobacteria in sputum will lead to an insight of bacterial adaptation at the most highly transmissible stage of infection and can also help in identifying newer diagnostic as well as drug targets. Further, the identification of crossreactive gene targets from the sputum samples of other lung diseases will help to find the diagnostic candidates which will be highly specific to pulmonary tuberculosis. We compared the global gene expression of mycobacteria in sputum of pulmonary TB patients in comparison to M. tb grown to log phase in Middlebrook 7H9 media. Further, the global gene expression of sputum from lung cancer patients was also compared to M. tb grown to log phase in Middlebrook 7H9 media for identifying crossreactive gene targets which could be eliminated from the list of diagnostic candidates for PTB diagnosis