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Science 28 May 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5419, pp. 1479 - 1480
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5419.1479
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Perspectives

MICROBIOLOGY:
TB Vaccines: Global Solutions for Global Problems

Douglas B. Young and Brian D. Robertson

Deciphering the differences between the many substrains of BCG (the bacillus used in the preparation of vaccines to prevent tuberculosis) should help solve the mystery of the large variability in efficacy between different vaccine preparations. In a Perspective, Young and Robertson discuss the application of DNA microarray technology to the comparison of the genomes of BCG substrains with the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (Behr et al.). They explain that the large number of missing genes (almost 100) in BCG substrains compared with M. tuberculosis indicates a broad genetic diversity in the Mycobacterium family not previously appreciated.

The authors are in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Imperial College School of Medicine, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK. E-mail: d.young{at}ic.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Solution Structure of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Protein MPB70: FROM TUBERCULOSIS PATHOGENESIS TO INHERITED HUMAN CORNEAL DISEASE.
M. D. Carr, M. J. Bloemink, E. Dentten, A. O. Whelan, S. V. Gordon, G. Kelly, T. A. Frenkiel, R. G. Hewinson, and R. A. Williamson (2003)
J. Biol. Chem. 278, 43736-43743
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Conclusive Evidence That the Major T-cell Antigens of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex ESAT-6 and CFP-10 Form a Tight, 1:1 Complex and Characterization of the Structural Properties of ESAT-6, CFP-10, and the ESAT-6{middle dot}CFP-10 Complex. IMPLICATIONS FOR PATHOGENESIS AND VIRULENCE.
P. S. Renshaw, P. Panagiotidou, A. Whelan, S. V. Gordon, R. G. Hewinson, R. A. Williamson, and M. D. Carr (2002)
J. Biol. Chem. 277, 21598-21603
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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