ArticlePloS one2012
Identification and characterization of a spore-like morphotype in chronically starved Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis cultures.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Paratuberculosis in Latin America: a systematic review.Tropical animal health and production · 2017Pooled it
- Nationwide seroprevalence of paratuberculosis in indigenous Turkish goat breeds reveals extensive herd-level circulation and breed-associated risk.Irish veterinary journal · 2026Article
- Age-Dependent Pleomorphism inMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- Modeling Paratuberculosis in Laboratory Animals, Cells, or Tissues: A Focus on Their Applications for Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, Vaccines, and Therapy Studies.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Sarcoidosis,Microorganisms · 2023Review
- More Insights about the Efficacy of Copper Ion Treatment onPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
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- Association of TLR2 haplotypes encoding Q650 with reduced susceptibility to ovine Johne's disease in Turkish sheep.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Cows Get Crohn's Disease and They're Giving Us Diabetes.Microorganisms · 2019Article
- Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium complex and related subspecies as causative agents of zoonotic and occupational diseases.Journal of cellular physiology · 2019Review
- Comparative genomics of Mycobacterium mucogenicum and Mycobacterium neoaurum clade members emphasizing tRNA and non-coding RNA.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Prevalence of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis IS 900 DNA in biopsy tissues from patients with Crohn's disease: histopathological and molecular comparison with Johne's disease in Fars province of Iran.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Article
- Hypoxic Non-replicating PersistentFrontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- In vitro inactivation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) by use of copper ions.BMC microbiology · 2018Article
- Mycobacterial Cultures Contain Cell Size and Density Specific Sub-populations of Cells with Significant Differential Susceptibility to Antibiotics, Oxidative and Nitrite Stress.Frontiers in microbiology · 2017Article
- Thermal Inactivation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Artificially Contaminated Milk by Direct Steam Injection.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2016Article
- Mild Nutrient Starvation Triggers the Development of a Small-Cell Survival Morphotype in Mycobacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2016Article
- Increased viability but decreased culturability of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in macrophages from inflammatory bowel disease patients under Infliximab treatment.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2015Article
- Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and the influence of strain type on infection and pathogenesis: a review.Veterinary research · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mycobacteria are able to enter into a state of non-replication or dormancy, which may result in their chronic persistence in soil, aquatic environments, and permissive hosts. Stresses such as nutrient deprivation and hypoxia provide environmental cues to enter a persistent state; however, a clear definition of the mechanism that mycobacteria employ to achieve this remains elusive. While the concept of sporulation in mycobacteria is not novel, it continues to spark controversy and challenges our perceptions of a non-replication. We investigated the potential role of sporulation in one-year old broth cultures of Mycobacterium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). We show that dormant cultures of MAP contain a mix of vegetative cells and a previously unknown morphotype resembling a spore. These spore-like structures can be enriched for using sporulating media. Furthermore, purified MAP spore forms survive exposure to heat, lysozyme and proteinase K. Heat-treated spores are positive for MAP 16SrRNA and IS900. MAP spores display enhanced infectivity as well as maintain acid-fast characteristics upon germination in a well-established bovine macrophage model. This is the first study to demonstrate a new MAP morphotype possessing spore-like qualities. Data suggest that sporulation may be a viable mechanism by which MAP accomplishes persistence in the host and/or environment. Thus, our current understanding of mycobacterial persistence, pathogenesis, epidemiology and rational drug and vaccine design may need to be reevaluated.
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Registered trials
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