RNA-seq of M. bovis TbD1 knockout mutants

The TbD1 ('Mycobacterium tuberculosis deletion 1 region') locus encompasses the mmpS6 and mmpL6 genes. TbD1 is absent in M. tuberculosis 'modern' lineages (Lineages 2, 3, 4) but present in 'ancestral' M. tuberculosis (Lineage 1 and 7), M. africanum lineages (Lineage 5 and 6), newly identified M. tuberculosis lineages (Lineage 8 and 9), and animal adapted strains, such as M. bovis. In this study, we aimed to shed further light on the role of the TbD1 locus by exploring its function in M. bovis. Towards this, we constructed an M. bovis TbD1 knockout strain and conducted comparative transcriptomics to define global gene expression profiles of M. bovis wild type and the TbD1 knockout strains under in vitro culture conditions (rolling and standing cultures).