Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex sample processing by mechanical lysis, an essential step for reliable whole genome sequencing

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) whole genome sequencing (WGS) turnaround time and WGS success rates are highly influenced by DNA extraction protocols even from cultures. Efficient mycobacterial lysis is crucial for obtaining sufficient DNA from cultures to facilitate reliable genomic drug susceptibility prediction and accurate genotyping with WGS. We compared four DNA extraction protocols from BD BACTEC™ Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tubes (MGIT) for WGS with a focus on the lysis step: protocol A) column-based protocol without mechanical lysis; protocol B) an adapted protocol including a bead beating step; protocol C) DNA extraction from primary received cultures using bead beating: and protocol D) DNA extraction from pre MGIT-positive (enriched) cultures. Protocol B increased DNA yield approximately 60-fold, and significantly improved the sequencing success rate. The increased yield also allowed DNA extraction from primary cultures with high success rates (protocol C). Additionally, by using pre-positive enriched MGIT cultures, we demonstrated that bead beating opens the possibility of reliable WGS up to five days before a MGIT tube would be flagged positive (protocol D). The most optimal bead beating-based DNA extraction was also evaluated for Nanopore sequencing. Shortening bead beating duration to 15 s resulted in longer read lengths (N50 from 1.4 kb to 2.6 kb) while still providing efficient lysis. Furthermore, AmpureXP bead beating-based DNA capture / purification proved to be as efficient as Qiagen column-based DNA extraction, further simplifying and shortening the DNA extraction protocol. Adding a mechanical lysis step to our routine MTBC DNA extraction protocol has allowed us to reduce the turnaround time while maintaining DNA quality sequencing success rates.