Complete whole genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis str. Kurono

Tuberculosis is one of the most prevalent and deadly bacterial infections affecting humans, with almost 9 million new cases worldwide and more than 1.4 million deaths in 2010. It has been estimated that 310000 patients newly diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 2011 were infected with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, with 9% of these patients, living in 84 countries, having extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis Kurono strain has been extensively used in the animal tuberculosis in Japan, and registered at ATCC. In this study, we completed whole genome sequencing of M. tuberculosis Kurono to elucidate the virulence factor(s) in the animal model.