Paired analysis of host and pathogen genomes identifies determinants of human tuberculosis

The outcome of an infectious disease exposure is the result of interactions between the host and pathogen and can depend on genetic variations in both. We explored this relationship in tuberculosis (TB) by conducting a genome-to-genome (g2g) study of paired human and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) genomes from a cohort of 1556 TB patients in Lima, Peru. We identified an association between a human intronic variant (rs3130660, OR = 10.06, 95% CI: 4.87 - 20.77, P = 7.92 10-8) in the FLOT1 gene and a subclade of Mtb Lineage 2 (g2g-L2). We assessed this interaction in a Mtb-macrophage infection model between bacterial and host genetic backgrounds. We found that the expression of FLOT1 and other genes in the MHC class-I region are differentially modulated by g2g-L2 compared to nearest neighbor strains. We also found distinct inflammatory responses with different host genetic backgrounds, with hosts carrying the A allele of rs3130660 inducing stronger type I and II interferon (IFN) gene signatures than hosts carrying only the T allele. TB infection with g2g-L2 strains shifts macrophage responses away from this IFN signaling. In vitro analyses show that the g2g-L2 strains are distinguished by altered redox states and resistance to reductive stress and that these phenotypes result from a single mutation in thioredoxin reductase (trxB2, T2N). We also investigated this association in a 2020 cohort of 699 patients with TB recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2010 and 2020, the prevalence of the g2g-L2 strain almost doubled, nearly fully replacing the other co-circulating L2 strains. However, g2g-L2 infection was not associated with rs3130660 in this cohort. These data raise the possibility of a more dynamic landscape of interacting host, pathogen and environmental risk factors than previously expected for TB.