RNomic identification and evaluation of npcTB_6715, a non-protein-coding RNA gene as a potential biomarker for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (original) (raw)

Development of Sensitive and Rapid RNA Transcription-based Isothermal Amplification Method for Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

2019

Background: The accurate and early diagnosis of tuberculosis is important for its effective management. During the last decade, several molecular methods for detection of Tuberculosis (TB) have been developed. Since RNA especially mRNA has a generally much shorter half-life than DNA, its detection may be useful for the assessment of viability of bacteria. This research is a Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification-Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (NASBA-ELISA) which was designed and developed for rapid detection of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Methods: Oligonucleotide primers targeting tuf gene encoding viability marker EF-Tu mRNAs were selected and used for the amplification of mycobacterial RNA by the isothermal NASBA Digoxigenin (DIG) labeling process and incorporated with DIG-UTP, reverse transcriptase and T7 RNA polymerase. Results: Using the NASBA-ELISA system, as little as 17.5 pg of RNA of M. tuberculosis was detected within 4 hr and no interference...

Reprogramming of Small Noncoding RNA Populations in Peripheral Blood Reveals Host Biomarkers for Latent and Active Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

mBio

In tuberculosis (TB), as in other infectious diseases, studies of small noncoding RNAs (sncRNA) in peripheral blood have focused on microRNAs (miRNAs) but have neglected the other major sncRNA classes in spite of their potential functions in host gene regulation. Using RNA sequencing of whole blood, we have therefore determined expression of miRNA, PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA), and small nuclear RNA (snRNA) in patients with TB (n = 8), latent TB infection (LTBI; n = 21), and treated LTBI (LTBItt; n = 6) and in uninfected exposed controls (ExC; n = 14). As expected, sncRNA reprogramming was greater in TB than in LTBI, with the greatest changes seen in miRNA populations. However, substantial dynamics were also evident in piRNA and snoRNA populations. One miRNA and 2 piRNAs were identified as moderately accurate (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.70 to 0.74) biomarkers for LTBI, as were 1 miRNA, 1 piRNA, and 2 snoRNAs (AUC = 0.79 to 0.91) for accomplished LTB...

Genome-Wide Discovery of Small RNAs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

PLoS ONE, 2012

Only few small RNAs (sRNAs) have been characterized in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their role in regulatory networks is still poorly understood. Here we report a genome-wide characterization of sRNAs in M. tuberculosis integrating experimental and computational analyses. Global RNA-seq analysis of exponentially growing cultures of M. tuberculosis H37Rv had previously identified 1373 sRNA species. In the present report we show that 258 (19%) of these were also identified by microarray expression. This set included 22 intergenic sRNAs, 84 sRNAs mapping within 59/39 UTRs, and 152 antisense sRNAs. Analysis of promoter and terminator consensus sequences identified sigma A promoter consensus sequences for 121 sRNAs (47%), terminator consensus motifs for 22 sRNAs (8.5%), and both motifs for 35 sRNAs (14%). Additionally, 20/23 candidates were visualized by Northern blot analysis and 59 end mapping by primer extension confirmed the RNA-seq data. We also used a computational approach utilizing functional enrichment to identify the pathways targeted by sRNA regulation. We found that antisense sRNAs preferentially regulated transcription of membrane-bound proteins. Genes putatively regulated by novel cis-encoded sRNAs were enriched for two-component systems and for functional pathways involved in hydrogen transport on the membrane.

Detection of Viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Reverse Transcriptase-Strand Displacement Amplification of mRNA

Antibiotic Resistance Methods and Protocols

Numerous assays have been described for the detection of DNA and rRNA sequences that are specific for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Although beneficial to initial diagnosis, such assays have proven unsuitable for monitoring therapeutic efficacy owing to the persistence of these nucleic acid targets long after conversion of smears and cultures to negative. However, prokaryotic mRNA has a typical half-life of only a few minutes and we have previously shown that the presence of mRNA is a good indicator of bacterial viability. The purpose of the present study was to develop a novel reverse transcriptase-strand displacement amplification system for the detection of M. tuberculosis ␣-antigen (85B protein) mRNA and to demonstrate the use of this assay in assessing chemotherapeutic efficacy in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. The assay was applied to sequential, noninduced sputum specimens collected from four patients: 10 of 11 samples (91%) collected prior to the start of therapy were positive for alpha-antigen mRNA, compared with 1 of 8 (13%), 2 of 8 (25%), 2 of 8 (25%), and 0 of 8 collected on days 2, 4, 7, and 14 of treatment, respectively. In contrast, 39 of 44 samples (89%) collected on or before day 14 were positive for ␣-antigen DNA. The loss of detectable mRNA corresponded to a rapid drop over the first 4 days of treatment in the number of viable organisms present in each sputum sample, equivalent to a mean fall of 0.43 log 10 CFU/ml/day. Analysis of mRNA is a potentially useful method for monitoring therapeutic efficacy and for rapid in vitro determination of drug susceptibility.

Diagnostic performance of the RT-qPCR method targeting 85B mRNA in the diagnosis of pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Journal of infection and public health, 2018

Several nucleic acid amplification techniques (IS6110, 16S rRNA, and 85B mRNA) were developed for the rapid, direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of 85B mRNA-based RT-qPCR by comparing with the real-time PCR COBAS TaqMan MTB Kit while using the BACTEC MGIT 960 method as the gold standard. 60 patients with confirmed pulmonary TB and 60 individuals without TB were included as the study and control groups, respectively. Sputum specimens were cultured using LJ and BACTEC MGIT 960 systems. Extracted DNA was used for COBAS PCR in a CONAS TaqMan 48 analyzer. 85B mRNA detection was performed by RT-qPCR. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of COBAS TaqMan MTB Test were detected as 93.3%, 83.3%, 84.8%, 92.6%, and 88.3%, respectively. The same diagnostic parameters of RT-qPCR were: 98.3%, 95.0%, 95.2%, 98.3%, and 96.7%, respectively. According to the binary logistic regression ...

Micro-RNA: A potential screening marker for latent tuberculosis

IP International Journal of Medical Microbiology and Tropical Diseases, 2023

Abstract An ancient disease, Tuberculosis is one of the most challenging infectious disease contributing to mortality and morbidity worldwide. Tuberculosis elimination globally, by 2050, is a mammoth task as Mycobacterial infections have wide range of presentation, from the clinical to the subclinical or latent and pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The virulence as well as evading property of Mycobacterium tuberculosisMtb) from the host's immune system confers upon it the ability to remain latent in the host cells. This forms the basis of classification of tuberculosis patient as having latent-TBI or active TB. This review focuses on the role of miRNA as biomarkers of LTBI. The aim is to have an overview of the current knowledge about miRNA, its involvement in TB pathogenesis and its role as a reliable tool for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis. miRNA are non-encoding endogenous RNAs which regulate gene expression by directing their target RNA for degradation or translational repression. Degraded RNA are released in the extracellular milieu, are present in various body fluids, such as blood, saliva, and urine, and are biomarkers for a number of diseases including cancer, Parkinsons’ disease, CAD, liver diseases, TB and other infectious diseases. miRNAs are differentially expressed during active TB and LTBI, and therefore can be used as biomarkers of disease progression and response to anti-TB therapy. This will further permit more specific therapeutic interventions in TB management. A thorough search of available literature resources was performed on online databases such as Google Scholar, NCBI, Nature, Research gate, PubMed, Science Direct. It was found that miRNA are promising biomarkers to identify healthy latent TB individuals for further course of action and can be reliable tools for routine use in current clinical practice for specific therapeutic interventions to limit active TB population. They meet the criteria of ideal biomarkers, such as minimally invasive, accessibility, high specificity, and sensitivity. Keywords: Biomarkers, Latent tuberculosis, miRNA, Pediatric, Diagnosis

Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA in bioaerosols from pulmonary tuberculosis patients

International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2019

Background: Bioaerosols from pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients are a quantitative predictor of transmission. Current methods involve sophisticated instruments and time-consuming techniques to assess viable TB bacteria in bioaerosols. We tested the feasibility of detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) specific RNA from bioaerosols retained on TB patients' masks. Methods: Adult PTB patients (n = 33) were recruited at diagnosis before GeneXpert confirmation between April-2017 to February-2019 from private TB clinics in Mumbai. Face mask worn for 1 or 3 h or N95 mask containing a cellulose acetate membrane worn for 5 min by the patients were tested for the presence of Mtb RNA by quantitative PCR and bacterial load was estimated. Results: Quantitative PCR targeting rpoB, sigA,16S and fgd1 and sequencing of rpoB confirmed the presence of Mtb specific RNA in mask samples including masks of two patients with unproductive sputum. Membrane samples had seven-fold higher RNA and bacterial load that correlated to bacterial load estimated by sputum GeneXpert. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that patient masks can be used to sample bioaerosols for detection of viable Mtb. The findings have translational value in the diagnosis of TB and monitoring Mtb variations between and within patients useful for assessing infectiousness and treatment response.

Simultaneous detection and differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria coexisting in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis by single-tube multiplex PCR

Iranian Journal of Microbiology

Background and Objectives: In clinical diagnostics, molecular methods are used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli (MTB) and to distinguish them from non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). They are also used to make the right treatment decision for the patient as soon as possible. The aim of this study was to establish a rapid and novel multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay for the detection and differentiation of MTB and NTM in a single tube. Materials and Methods: 100 sputum samples positive for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) were included in this study. Mycobacterial culture, biochemical tests, and antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed on samples. After alkaline decontamination, total DNA was extracted from the samples. A primer pair targeting the rpoB gene, encoding the beta-subunit of RNA poly- merase, was used to detect MTB and NTM, amplifying a 235-bp fragment of MTB and a 136-bp sequence of NTM. A pair of primers targeting a 190-bp fragment of the IS6110 region of MTB was als...

Transcriptome analysis of mycobacteria in sputum samples of pulmonary tuberculosis patients

PLOS ONE, 2017

Pulmonary tuberculosis, the disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, still retains a top rank among the deadliest communicable diseases. Sputum expectorated during the disease continues to be a primary diagnostic specimen and also serves as a reservoir of bacteria. The expression pattern of mycobacteria in sputum will lead to an insight into bacterial adaptation at the most highly transmissible stage of infection and can also help in identifying newer diagnostic as well as drug targets. Thus, in the present study, a whole genome microarray of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was used to elucidate the transcriptional profile of mycobacteria in the sputum samples of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Overall, the mycobacteria in sputum appeared to be in a low energy and low replicative state as compared to in vitro grown log phase M. tb with downregulation of genes involved in ATP synthesis, aerobic respiration and translational machinery. Simultaneously, downregulation was also seen in the genes involved in secretion machinery of mycobacteria along with the downregulation of genes involved in the synthesis of phthiocerol dimycocerosate and phenol glycolipids. In contrast, the majority of the genes which showed an upregulation in sputum mycobacteria were of unknown function. Further identification of these genes may provide new insights into the mycobacterial behavior during this phase of infection and may help in deciphering candidates for development of better diagnostic and drug candidates.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Small RNA MTS1338 Confers Pathogenic Properties to Non-Pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis

Microorganisms, 2021

Small non-coding RNAs play a key role in bacterial adaptation to various stresses. Mycobacterium tuberculosis small RNA MTS1338 is upregulated during mycobacteria infection of macrophages, suggesting its involvement in the interaction of the pathogen with the host. In this study, we explored the functional effects of MTS1338 by expressing it in non-pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis that lacks the MTS1338 gene. The results indicated that MTS1338 slowed the growth of the recombinant mycobacteria in culture and increased their survival in RAW 264.7 macrophages, where the MTS1338-expressing strain significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the number of mature phagolysosomes and changed the production of cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, TGF-β, and TNF-α compared to those of the control strain. Proteomic and secretomic profiling of recombinant and control strains revealed differential expression of proteins involved in the synthesis of main cell wall components and in the regulation of iro...