Mycobacterium ulcerans, the etiologic agent of Buruli ulcer, has been detected on aquatic plants in endemic tropical regions. Here, we tested the effect of several tropical plant extracts on the growth of M. ulcerans and the closely related Mycobacterium marinum. M. ulcerans and M. marinum were inoculated on Middlebrook 7H11 medium with and without extracts from tropical aquatic plants, includi...

In an attempt to characterize an unusual mycobacterial isolate from a 44-year-old patient living in France, we applied phenotypic characterizations and various previously described molecular methods for the taxonomic classification of mycobacteria. The results of the investigations were compared to those obtained in a previous study with a set of temporally and geographically diverse Mycobacter...

The apparent genetic homogeneity of Mycobacterium ulcerans contributes to the poorly understood epidemiology of M. ulcerans infection. Here, we report the identification of variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) sequences as novel polymorphic elements in the genome of this species. A total of 19 potential VNTR loci identified in the closely related M. marinum genome sequence were screened in a co...

The genus Mycobacterium, which is a member of the high G+C group of Gram-positive bacteria, includes important pathogens, such as M. tuberculosis and M. leprae. A recent publication in PNAS reported that M. marinum and M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin produce a type of spore known as an endospore, which had been observed only in the low G+C group of Gram-positive bacteria. Evidence was present...

MICs of clarithromycin against 324 clinical isolates belonging to eight species of slowly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria were determined by using a broth microdilution system. Isolates were inoculated into twofold drug dilutions in Middlebrook 7H9 broth (pH corrected to 7.4) and then incubated at 30 degrees C for 7 days for Mycobacterium marinum and for 14 days for all other species. The M...

We report a case of osteomyelitis and synovitis produced by Mycobacterium marinum in the left index finger of a fisherman. A combination of surgical intervention and antimicrobial therapy with minocycline, rifampin, and ethambutol was efficacious.

Drosophila melanogaster infected with Mycobacterium marinum suffer metabolic wasting similar to that seen in humans suffering from tuberculosis. This wasting is linked to insulin signaling and hastens host death.

Pathogenic mycobacteria survive and replicate within host macrophages, but the molecular mechanisms involved in this necessary step in the pathogenesis of infection are not completely understood. Mycobacterium marinum has recently been used as a model for aspects of the pathogenesis of tuberculosis because of its close genetic relationship to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and because of similariti...

Mycobacterium marinum, a natural pathogen of fish and frogs and an occasional pathogen of humans, is capable of inducing actin tail formation within the cytoplasm of macrophages, leading to actin-based motility and intercellular spread. Actin tail formation by M. marinum is markedly reduced in macrophages deficient in the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP), which still contain the closely ...