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A key aspect of the pathophysiology of mycobacterial infections is prolonged latency, and in 2009, investigators reported evidence that spore formation might be an underlying mechanism for this phenomenon (JW Infect Dis Jul 15 2009). Given the importance of this observation, other researchers have attempted to confirm the findings.
Traag and colleagues performed sequence analysis of all published Mycobacterium and Streptomyces genomes and found no orthologs of genes that are essential for endospore formation in Bacillus or Clostridium species (the only bacteria known to produce endospores). In addition, the researchers — working at four separate laboratories — were unable to replicate the previously reported production of endospores in cultu…