What Is Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis?

摘要

We read with interest the article by Beumer et al. (1) on the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in 81 of drinking water and biofilm samples by PCR. Although these findings could have a significant influence on our understanding and the potential public impact of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis as an agent of disease, much of the information on M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis based on genomic sequence detection and the environment tends to raise more questions than answers and fuels an ever-increasing mass of conflicting data.It must first be questioned whether the detection of a specific sequence in bulk-extracted DNA actually represents a microbe, an in situ microbe, and a member of the microbial community without establishing a direct link between the molecular sequence and an actual in situ active microbe. It may be a leap of faith to assume that it does. Perhaps it would be more accurate to express such studies as detection of a genomic sequence rather than detection of an actual microbial species?.