Pangenomic analyses of tuberculosis strains to identify resistomes using computational approaches

To locate resistomes in tuberculosis strains, to determine the severity of drug resistance, and to infer its implications with respect to high tuberculosis prevalence in a Third World setting.

The pangenomic study was conducted from October 2022 to January 2023 in Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, and comprised 2012-22 data on multiple sequence alignment to assess the genetic evolution of tuberculosis strains. Antibiotic resistance drug classes were identified using the Canadian Antibiotic Resistance Database, which entailed multidrug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant strains. Also, GenBank was used for tuberculosis genome FASTA (fast-all; nucleotide and protein sequence representation) files, prediction of resistome sequences on the basis of Canadian Antibiotic Resistance Database, and multiple sequence alignment was done in Mauve.

Evolutionarily, the 6 strains identified were structurally similar with polymorphisms in their core chromosomal regions. Their resistome genes showed perfect hits for isoniazid, rifamycin, cephalosporin, fluoroquinolone, aminoglycosides, penem, penam and cephamycin.

Drugs discovered in antibiotic resistance genes are now less effective in treatment, and have the potential to develop into more dangerous bacteria, if not monitored. For treatment, staying long durations in hospitals for quality healthcare and supervision in third world countries is unaffordable.