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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1573448

This article is part of the Research Topic Advancements in Diversity and Drug Resistance Mechanisms in Mycobacterial Diseases View all 4 articles

Genomic-based genotype and drug susceptibility profile of Mycobacterium kansasii in China

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Beijing CDC), Beijing, China
  • 2 Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
  • 3 Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To analyze subtypes, microbiological characteristics and antimicrobial susceptibility of M. kansasii in China, a total of 153 M. kansasii isolates, collected from national drug resistance surveillance, were genotyped with whole genome sequencing and explored the antimicrobial susceptibility with broth microdilution. All isolates were classified as M. kansasii type I based on ANI. The 153 M. kansasii representatives were differentiated into 3 clusters with 141 genotypes, including 17 isolates from a cluster and 136 isolates with unique patterns. The EXS-1, EXS-3 and EXS-5 region were involved in all isolates. Rifabutin and clarithromycin were the most highly active against M. kansasii strains, with the susceptible rate of 100% and 99.35%, respectively. Followed by amikacin and linezolid, the resistance rate was 5.88% and 7.19%, respectively. The resistance rate to rifampin (RIF) was 22.22%. As for the antibiotics without the breakpoint values, all isolates had very low MIC50 (0.03 μg/ml) and MIC90 (≤0.06 μg/ml) values against bedaquiline, sutezolid, delamanid, and clofazimine. Except for ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin, the resistance rate of other drugs in cluster 3 was higher than that in cluster 1 and cluster 2. In conclusion, M. kansasii type I was the predominant genotype in China, and rifabutin and clarithromycin presented strong activities. The new drugs, used to the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, have the potential to be potent agents for the treatment of M. kansasii infection. The clustering might be contribute to high resistance rate of M. kansasii.

    Keywords: Mycobacterium kansasii, Drug susceptibility testing, Genotype, whole genome sequencing (WGS), phylogenetic analysis

    Received: 12 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Ou, Zhao, Xia, Zheng, Zhou, Xing, Song, Wang, Zhao and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yanlin Zhao, Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, China
    Huiwen Zheng, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100045, Beijing Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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