-BCCM/ITM-

Member holdings

Group(s) of biological resources stored in the collection: bacteria, crude DNA (thermolysates), purified genomic DNA

  • a. Core collection: 1160 cultures of the genus Mycobacterium
  • i. ITM-5xxxxx references
  • ii. Quality assured
  • iii. All available as freeze-dried material
  • iv. Selection available as crude or purified DNA
  • v. Available as fresh cultures upon request
  • vi. Particular sub-collections identified within the core collection
  • ◦Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBc) human lineages reference set
  • ◦ Comprising 22 pan-susceptible MTBc cultures belonging to human adapted lineages 1 to 10
  • ◦ MTBc animal lineages reference set
  • ◦ Comprising ~20 MTBc cultures belonging to animal adapted lineages, such as M. bovis, M. pinipedii, M. orygis, Dassie bacillus amongst others
  • ◦ MTBc DST reference set
  • ◦ Comprising ~20 MTBc cultures exhibiting various drug-resistance profiles, suitable for validation and quality control of drug-susceptibility testing (DST) methods.
  • ◦ MTBc heteroresistance mixtures
  • ◦ Comprising 33 quality-controlled experimental heteroresistant MTB mixtures for fluorquinolones and bedaquiline
  • ◦ MTBc cultures from the World Health Organization TDR-TB Strain Bank
  • ◦ Vincent et al., 2012 (https://doi.org/10.5588/ijtld.11.0223).
  • ◦ Searchable in the on-line catalogue via Advanced Search and “original ID” contains “TDR”
  • b. Clinical trial isolates: 4216 clinical isolates from the STREAM Stage 1 and Stage 2 clinical trials (Nunn et al., 2019; Goodall et al. 2022). More information about the trials and associated clinical/outcome data can be found at https://c-path.org/programs/tb-pacts/ under Study ID TB-1019 (Stage 1) and TB-1032 (Stage 2).
  • i. ITM-6xxxxx references
  • ii. Not quality assured
  • iii. Not freeze dried
  • iv. Only available as fresh cultures, crude DNA or purified DNA upon request
  • c. Two large transposon insertion mutant libraries (96X96 wells) of M. bovis BCG
  • i. ITM-7xxxxx references
  • ii. Pasteur 1721 strain transposon insertion mutant library
  • ◦ > 8200 mutants
  • ◦ Vandewalle et al., 2015 (https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8106)
  • iii. Danish 1331 strain transposon insertion mutant library
  • ◦ > 18000 mutants, targeting 83% of all non-essential M. tuberculosis homologues
  • ◦ Borgers et al., 2019 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31419030/)
  • ◦ This library was designed with a derivative of the optimized Himar1 transposon, incorporating a SacB gene and FRT- and ISceI-sites flanking the antibiotic resistance cassette, to afterwards allow the creation of unmarked transposon mutants.

    • Services offered

  • Public deposit: https://bccm.belspo.be/deposit-public
  • ◦ Free of charge, via Material Deposit Agreement
  • Safe deposit : https://bccm.belspo.be/deposit-safe
  • ◦ Via specific contract
  • Distribution of biomaterial
  • ◦ On-line ordering via catalogue: https://bccm.belspo.be/ITM-catalogue-search
  • ◦ Material Transfer Agreement
  • Services https://bccm.belspo.be/services-ITM
  • ◦ Phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing
  • ◦ Including minimal inhibitory concentration testing using the broth microdilution (EUCAST reference) method
  • ◦ Genotypic identification
  • ◦ Phenotypic identification
  • ◦ Training and consultancy

    • Research

  • BCCM/ITM’ research has a focus on:
  • ◦ Drug-susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBc), with an emphasis on optimizing and evaluating phenotypic and genotypic methods, and investigating associations between phenotypic and genotypic results.
  • ◦ Phylogeny of MTBc, with an emphasis on rare and ancestral lineages
  • ◦ Taxonomy of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)
  • Some relevant, recent publications include:
  • ◦ Rupasinghe P, Reenaers R, Vereecken J, Mulders W, Cogneau S, Merker M, Niemann S, Vally Omar S, Rigouts L, Köser CU, Decroo T, de Jong BC. Refined understanding of the impact of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex diversity on the intrinsic susceptibility to pretomanid. Microbiol Spectr. 2024 Mar 5;12(3):e0007024. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00070-24. Epub 2024 Feb 9. PMID: 38334384; PMCID: PMC10913522.
  • ◦ Machado E, Vasconcellos S, Gomes L, Catanho M, Ramos J, de Carvalho L, Goldenberg T, Redner P, Caldas P, Campos C, Dalcolmo M, Lourenço MC, Lasunskaia E, Mussi V, Spinassé L, Vinhas S, Rigouts L, Cogneau S, de Rijk P, Utpatel C, Kaustova J, van der Laan T, de Neeling H, Rastogi N, Levina K, Kütt M, Mokrousov I, Zhuravlev V, Makhado N, Žolnir-Dovč M, Jankovic V, de Waard J, Sisco MC, van Soolingen D, Niemann S, de Jong BC, Meehan CJ, Suffys P. Phylogenomic and genomic analysis reveals unique and shared genetic signatures of Mycobacterium kansasii complex species. Microb Genom. 2024 Jul;10(7):001266. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001266. PMID: 39016539; PMCID: PMC11316565.
  • ◦ Rupasinghe P, Driesen M, Vereecken J, de Jong BC, Rigouts L. Re-evaluation of critical concentrations of antituberculosis fluoroquinolones in the Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube 960 system. Int J Mycobacteriol. 2023 Jul-Sep;12(3):316-323. doi: 10.4103/ijmy.ijmy_144_23. PMID: 37721239.
  • ◦ Meehan CJ, Barco RA, Loh YE, Cogneau S, Rigouts L. Reconstituting the genus Mycobacterium. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2021 Sep;71(9):004922. doi: 10.1099/ijsem.0.004922. PMID: 34554081; PMCID: PMC8549266.
  • ◦ Ngabonziza JCS, Loiseau C, Marceau M, Jouet A, Menardo F, Tzfadia O, Antoine R, Niyigena EB, Mulders W, Fissette K, Diels M, Gaudin C, Duthoy S, Ssengooba W, André E, Kaswa MK, Habimana YM, Brites D, Affolabi D, Mazarati JB, de Jong BC, Rigouts L, Gagneux S, Meehan CJ, Supply P. A sister lineage of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex discovered in the African Great Lakes region. Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 9;11(1):2917. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16626-6. PMID: 32518235; PMCID: PMC7283319.
  • ◦ Borrell S, Trauner A, Brites D, Rigouts L, Loiseau C, Coscolla M, Niemann S, De Jong B, Yeboah-Manu D, Kato-Maeda M, Feldmann J, Reinhard M, Beisel C, Gagneux S. Reference set of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical strains: A tool for research and product development. PLoS One. 2019 Mar 25;14(3):e0214088. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214088. PMID: 30908506; PMCID: PMC6433267.

    • Quality Management System

  • Multicenter ISO9001 certification at BCCM consortium level.
  • Bacteriological and molecular biological tests applied to identify and characterize the biomaterial are IS015189 or ISO17025 accredited.