New paper: detecting compensatory mutations in the RNAP of M. tuberculosis

In this paper, by examining testing the association between mutations known to be associate with resistance and other mutation in the M. tuberculosis RNA polymerase, Viki Brunner is able to identify 51 putative compensatory mutations. This is only possible thanks to the large CRyPTIC dataset containing of over 70,000 TB genomes.

The paper is also the first use at scale of the growth in the positive control wells as measured by AMyGDA after two weeks of incubation and we are able to recapitulate the original in vitro result that mutations in RNAP that confer resistance are associated with a fitness cost (here assumed to be growth).

This is the peer-reviewed version of an earlier preprint.