[Doherty Institute] Scientists Uncover Ancient Genetic Change Behind the Global Spread of TB

8 July 2026

Doherty Institute news release

Researchers have uncovered a critical genetic change that helped Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterium that causes TB, evolve into one of the deadliest pathogens in human history.

The family of bacteria that cause TB, collectively known as the Mtb complex, are not genetically uniform but comprise multiple lineages with distinct geographic distributions. While evidence points to sub-Saharan Africa as their origin point, the timeline of their spread and the genetic changes that enabled human adaptation have remained a mystery.

Now, new research published in Nature Communications has identified a small, previously unknown gene, Rv0080, as key to this evolutionary shift, based on a genetic analysis incorporating all global strains.

Read the full news release here.

Source: Doherty Institute