Stefan Niemann

TL;DR: A discriminatory subset of 15 loci with the highest evolutionary rates was defined that concentrated 96% of the total resolution obtained with the full 24-locus set, and its predictive value for evaluating M. tuberculosis transmission was found to be equal to that of IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism typing.

TL;DR: The results suggests the existence of fine geographical genetic clines within MTC populations, that could mirror the passed and present Homo sapiens sapiens demographical and mycobacterial co-evolutionary history whose structure could be further reconstructed and modelled, thereby providing a large-scale conceptual framework of the global TB Epidemiologic Network.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the global population structure of M. tuberculosis is defined by six phylogeographical lineages, each associated with specific, sympatric human populations, and in an urban cosmopolitan environment, mycobacterial lineages were much more likely to spread in sympatrics than in allopatric patient populations.

TL;DR: Coalescent analyses indicate that MTBC emerged about 70,000 years ago, accompanied migrations of anatomically modern humans out of Africa and expanded as a consequence of increases in human population density during the Neolithic period, consistent with MTBC displaying characteristics indicative of adaptation to both low and high host densities.

TL;DR: A genome-wide phylogeny based on genomes of 21 strains representative of the global diversity and six major lineages of the M. tuberculosis complex showed, as expected, that essential genes in MTBC were more evolutionarily conserved than nonessential genes.