Genomics and Genome Evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The endless emergence of new theories and scientific instruments aiming to genome sequencing boosts the large ship of history advance of biology in the post-genomic era. With the genome sequences of major infectious disease-causing microorganisms being determined one by one, the subsequent annotation of gene function and the reconstruction work about protein functions are being carried out. All the efforts are to get a breakthrough understanding of biological characteristics, diagnostic strategies and treatment methods of pathogenic microorganisms. Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been a serious threat to human health globally. All genetic events occurring in the genome evolution play an important role in all aspects such as M. tuberculosis's biological properties, pathogenicity and drug resistance. This review will summarize the origins and genomic features of M. tuberculosis, and discuss the current progress about its genome evolution.