Early macrophage immune responses and pathogenic features of an emerging Mycobacterium wolinskyi

In this study, a clinical M. wolinskyi strain, designated QL01, was isolated from an 11-year-old child with a facial skin infection. Whole-genome sequencing revealed multiple features associated with pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance, and host adaptation, including antimicrobial resistance genes, putative virulence factors, genomic islands, prophages, type VII secretion systems, and mammalian cell entry operons.

To investigate the early host response, mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages were infected with M. wolinskyi QL01 and subjected to RNA sequencing. Transcriptomic analysis showed broad induction of inflammatory and immunometabolic programs, with prominent enrichment of the TNF, NF-kappa B, and HIF-1 signaling pathways. These findings provide a genomic and transcriptomic framework for understanding host-pathogen interactions involving M. wolinskyi.