New preprint: compensatory mutations are associated with increased growth in resistant samples of M. tuberculosis. Philip Fowler, 22nd June 20238th December 2023 In this preprint, Viki Brunner shows how, using the large CRyPTIC dataset, she can recapitulate the result that susceptible M. tuberculosis samples grow faster than samples that are resistant to rifampicin (and do not have any mutation that could compensate for that effect). Using the Fisher’s exact test, she is able to confidently identify 51 putative compensatory mutations, having corrected for linkage disequilibrium, partly by insisting each mutation is homoplastic. Twelve of these hits have not previously been described. There is then a very interesting story about how it appears at first glance that RIF-resistant samples with compensatory mutations grow better not just than those without, but also better than susceptible samples. When you break this down by lineage, it appears confounded with Lineage 2 and also with some clades in our dataset. Our data suggest there is something interesting here, but more detailed experimental work will likely be needed to disentangle exactly what is going on. Share this: Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon Related antimicrobial resistance group publication research tuberculosis
antimicrobial resistance CRyPTIC datasets available through new website 25th June 20257th July 2025 The CRyPTIC project ran from 2016 to 2022 and collected >20,000 clinical samples from patients… Share this: Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon Read More
Philip Fowler appointed as Associate Professor 13th January 202313th January 2023 More good news for the group! Philip was awarded an Associate Professorship by the Nuffield… Share this: Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon Read More
publication New Publication: Proteins Alter the Stiffness of Membranes 23rd September 201629th September 2018 Although there have been many studies of proteins whose primary function is to ‘sculpt’ the… Share this: Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon Read More