RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Alarico, Susana A1 Nunes-Costa, Daniela A1 Silva, Alexandra A1 Costa, Mafalda A1 Macedo-Ribeiro, Sandra A1 Empadinhas, NunoYR 2020 T1 A genuine mycobacterial thermophile: Mycobacterium hassiacum growth, survival and GpgS stability at near-pasteurization temperatures JF Microbiology, VO 166 IS 5 SP 474 OP 483 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000898 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Mycobacterium hassiacum is so far the most thermophilic among mycobacteria as it grows optimally at 50 °C and up to 65 °C in a glycerol-based medium, as verified in this study. Since this and other nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) thrive in diverse natural and artificial environments, from where they may access and infect humans, we deemed essential to probe M. hassiacum resistance to heat, a strategy routinely used to control microbial growth in water-supply systems, as well as in the food and drink industries. In addition to possibly being a threat in its own right in rare occasions, M. hassiacum is also a good surrogate for studying other NTM species more often associated with opportunistic infection, namely Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium abscessus as well as their strictly pathogenic counterparts Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae . In this regard, this thermophilic species is likely to be useful as a source of stable proteins that may provide more detailed structures of potential drug targets. Here, we investigate M. hassiacum growth at near-pasteurization temperatures and at different pHs and also characterize its thermostable glucosyl-3-phosphoglycerate synthase (GpgS), an enzyme considered essential for M. tuberculosis growth and associated with both nitrogen starvation and thermal stress in different NTM species., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000898