Populations of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis lack a cell wall: Isolation, visualization, and whole-genome characterization

ABSTRACT

Objective/Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis [MTB] causes active tuberculosis [TB] in only a small percentage of infected people. In most cases, the infection is clinically latent, where bacilli can persist in human hosts for years without causing disease. Surprisingly, the biology of such persister cells is largely unknown. This study describes the isolation, identification, and whole-genome sequencing [WGS] of latent TB bacilli after 782 days [26 months] of latency [the ability of MTB bacilli to lie persistent]