Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv Genome sequencing and assembly

Drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a major public health concern, which is exacerbated by the emergence of multi and extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis. We generated the gene replacement mutants of uracil DNA glycosylases ung and udgB, individually or combinatorially (Rv del ung, Rv del udgB, Rv del dKO). While Rv del dKO did not accumulate SNPs during in vitro growth, in the presence of antibiotics, it exhibited hypermutable phenotype. Importantly, Rv del dKO showed higher survival in guinea pigs and the whole genome sequence analysis showed significant accumulation of SNPs in Rv del dKO.