The key difference between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis is that Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects only humans while Mycobacterium bovis infects both humans and domestic animals.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis are two species classified under the genus Mycobacterium. Mycobacterium is a genus of Actinobacteria. There are over 190 species in this genus. Some species of this genus are pathogens that cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis and leprosy in humans. They tend to grow in a mold-like fashion on the surface of cultures. They are acid-fast and cannot be stained by the gram stain procedure. The genomes of some mycobacteria are quite large when compared to other known bacteria.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
3. What is Mycobacterium Bovis
4. Similarities – Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Bovis
5. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis vs Mycobacterium Bovis in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Mycobacterium Tuberculosis vs Mycobacterium Bovis
What is Mycobacterium Tuberculosis?
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects only humans and causes tuberculosis. It is a species of pathogenic bacteria in the family of Mycobacteriaceae and was discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch. It has an unusual waxy coating on its cell surface, usually due to the presence of mycolic acid. Particularly, this coating makes the bacterial cells impervious to gram staining. Therefore, acid-fast stains such as Ziel-Neelsen and fluorescent stains such as auramine are primarily used to identify M. tuberculosis in laboratories. The genome of M. tuberculosis (H37Rv strain) was sequenced and published in 1998. The genome contains approximately 4 million base pairs and 3959 genes.
Figure 01: Mycobacterium tuberculosis
This bacterium is highly aerobic and needs high levels of oxygen. Hence, it is a pathogen of the human respiratory system and infects the lungs. Tuberculosis is the disease caused after M. tuberculosis infects the lungs. This disease has symptoms such as persistent cough, weight loss, night sweat, high temperature, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swelling in the neck. The most frequently used diagnostic methods for tuberculosis are tuberculin skin test, acid-fast staining, culture, and polymerase chain reaction. BCG vaccine has limited success in preventing tuberculosis.
What is Mycobacterium Bovis?
Mycobacterium bovis infects both humans and domestic animals, causing tuberculosis in both humans and domestic animals such as cattle. It is a slow-growing aerobic bacterium in the family of Mycobacteriaceae. Moreover, M. bovis can jump the species barrier and cause tuberculosis like infections in humans and other mammals. Mycobacterium bovis is the ancestor of the most widely applied vaccine against tuberculosis. This vaccine is termed BCG (Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette Guerin). The genome of Mycobacterium Bovis is approximately 4.3 Mb with 4200 genes.
Figure 02: Mycobacterium Bovis
The symptoms of bovine tuberculosis are similar to human tuberculosis, including weight loss, fever, night sweats, and a persistent cough. In addition to cattle, other livestock such as elk, deer, bison, goats, and swine also can get bovine tuberculosis. Antibiotics, isoniazid and rifampicin, successfully control bovine tuberculosis.
What are the Similarities Between Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Bovis?
- tuberculosis and M. bovis are two species of the genus Mycobacterium.
- These bacteria are rod-shaped and aerobic.
- Both bacteria cause tuberculosis.
- They cause similar symptoms such as weight loss, fever, night sweats, and a persistent cough.
- Both bacteria are slow-growing.
- They are both can be identified through acid-fast staining.
- BCG vaccine can treat tuberculosis caused by both.
What is the Difference Between Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Bovis?
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects only humans, while Mycobacterium bovis infects both humans and domestic animals. Thus, this is the key difference between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis. Furthermore, Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a genome of 4.4 Mb with 3959 genes, while Mycobacterium bovis has a genome of 4.3 Mb with 4200 genes.
The following infographic tabulates more differences between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis for side by side comparison.
Summary – Mycobacterium Tuberculosis vs Mycobacterium Bovis
Mycobacterium is a genus of Actinobacteria that contains the family Mycobacteriaceae. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis are two species classified under genus Mycobacterium and family Mycobacteriaceae. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects only humans causing tuberculosis in humans. In contrast, Mycobacterium bovis infects both humans and domestic animals and causes bovine tuberculosis. Thus, this is the summary of the difference between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis.
Reference:
1.“Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. “Mycobacterium Bovis.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Mycobacterium tuberculosis Bacteria (16843981465)” By NIAID – Mycobacterium tuberculosis Bacteria (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Mycobacterium bovis BCG ZN” By Y tambe – Y tambe's file (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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