Climate Change and the Potential Spreading of Marine Mucilage and Microbial Pathogens in the Mediterranean Sea

Background

Marine snow (small amorphous aggregates with colloidal properties) is present in all oceans of the world. Surface water warming and the consequent increase of water column stability can favour the coalescence of marine snow into marine mucilage, large marine aggregates representing an ephemeral and extreme habitat. Marine mucilage characterize aquatic systems with altered environmental conditions.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We investigated, by means of molecular techniques, viruses and prokaryotes within the mucilage and in surrounding seawater to examine the potential of mucilage to host new microbial diversity and/or spread marine diseases. We found that marine mucilage contained a large and unexpectedly exclusive microbial biodiversity and hosted pathogenic species that were absent in surrounding seawater. We also investigated the relationship between climate change and the frequency of mucilage in the Mediterranean Sea over the last 200 years and found that the number of mucilage outbreaks increased almost exponentially in the last 20 years. The increasing frequency of mucilage outbreaks is closely associated with the temperature anomalies.

Conclusions/Significance

We conclude that the spreading of mucilage in the Mediterranean Sea is linked to climate-driven sea surface warming. The mucilage can act as a controlling factor of microbial diversity across wide oceanic regions and could have the potential to act as a carrier of specific microorganisms, thereby increasing the spread of pathogenic bacteria.     

Phytoplankton Biogeography and Community Stability in the Ocean

Background

Despite enormous environmental variability linked to glacial/interglacial climates of the Pleistocene, we have recently shown that marine diatom communities evolved slowly through gradual changes over the past 1.5 million years. Identifying the causes of this ecological stability is key for understanding the mechanisms that control the tempo and mode of community evolution.

Methodology/Principal Findings

If community assembly were controlled by local environmental selection rather than dispersal, environmental perturbations would change community composition, yet, this could revert once environmental conditions returned to previous-like states. We analyzed phytoplankton community composition across >10⁴ km latitudinal transects in the Atlantic Ocean and show that local environmental selection of broadly dispersed species primarily controls community structure. Consistent with these results, three independent fossil records of marine diatoms over the past 250,000 years show cycles of community departure and recovery tightly synchronized with the temporal variations in Earth''s climate.

Conclusions/Significance

Changes in habitat conditions dramatically alter community structure, yet, we conclude that the high dispersal of marine planktonic microbes erases the legacy of past environmental conditions, thereby decreasing the tempo of community evolution.     

Biodiversity's Big Wet Secret: The Global Distribution of Marine Biological Records Reveals Chronic Under-Exploration of the Deep Pelagic Ocean

Background

Understanding the distribution of marine biodiversity is a crucial first step towards the effective and sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Recent efforts to collate location records from marine surveys enable us to assemble a global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. They also effectively highlight gaps in our knowledge of particular marine regions. In particular, the deep pelagic ocean – the largest biome on Earth – is chronically under-represented in global databases of marine biodiversity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We use data from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System to plot the position in the water column of ca 7 million records of marine species occurrences. Records from relatively shallow waters dominate this global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. In addition, standardising the number of records from regions of the ocean differing in depth reveals that regardless of ocean depth, most records come either from surface waters or the sea bed. Midwater biodiversity is drastically under-represented.

Conclusions/Significance

The deep pelagic ocean is the largest habitat by volume on Earth, yet it remains biodiversity''s big wet secret, as it is hugely under-represented in global databases of marine biological records. Given both its value in the provision of a range of ecosystem services, and its vulnerability to threats including overfishing and climate change, there is a pressing need to increase our knowledge of Earth''s largest ecosystem.     

Projected Polar Bear Sea Ice Habitat in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Background

Sea ice across the Arctic is declining and altering physical characteristics of marine ecosystems. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have been identified as vulnerable to changes in sea ice conditions. We use sea ice projections for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 2006 – 2100 to gain insight into the conservation challenges for polar bears with respect to habitat loss using metrics developed from polar bear energetics modeling.

Principal Findings

Shifts away from multiyear ice to annual ice cover throughout the region, as well as lengthening ice-free periods, may become critical for polar bears before the end of the 21^st century with projected warming. Each polar bear population in the Archipelago may undergo 2–5 months of ice-free conditions, where no such conditions exist presently. We identify spatially and temporally explicit ice-free periods that extend beyond what polar bears require for nutritional and reproductive demands.

Conclusions/Significance

Under business-as-usual climate projections, polar bears may face starvation and reproductive failure across the entire Archipelago by the year 2100.     

Is Aquatic Life Correlated with an Increased Hematocrit in Snakes?

Background

Physiological adaptations that allow air-breathing vertebrates to remain underwater for long periods mainly involve modifications of the respiratory system, essentially through increased oxygen reserves. Physiological constraints on dive duration tend to be less critical for ectotherms than for endotherms because the former have lower mass-specific metabolic rates. Moreover, comparative studies between marine and terrestrial ectotherms have yet to show overall distinct physiological differences specifically associated with oxygen reserves.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We used phylogenetically informed statistical models to test if habitat affects hematocrit (an indicator of blood oxygen stores) in snakes, a lineage that varies widely in habitat use. Our results indicate that both phylogenetic position (clade) and especially habitat are significant predictors of hematocrit. Our analysis also confirms the peculiar respiratory physiology of the marine Acrochordus granulatus.

Conclusion/Significance

Contrary to previous findings, marine snakes have significantly–albeit slightly–elevated hematocrit, which should facilitate increased aerobic dive times. Longer dives could have consequences for foraging, mate searching, and predation risks. Alternatively, but not exclusively, increased Hct in marine species might also help to fuel other oxygen-demanding physiological adaptations, such as those involved in osmoregulation.     

Neanderthal Extinction by Competitive Exclusion

Background

Despite a long history of investigation, considerable debate revolves around whether Neanderthals became extinct because of climate change or competition with anatomically modern humans (AMH).

Methodology/Principal Findings

We apply a new methodology integrating archaeological and chronological data with high-resolution paleoclimatic simulations to define eco-cultural niches associated with Neanderthal and AMH adaptive systems during alternating cold and mild phases of Marine Isotope Stage 3. Our results indicate that Neanderthals and AMH exploited similar niches, and may have continued to do so in the absence of contact.

Conclusions/Significance

The southerly contraction of Neanderthal range in southwestern Europe during Greenland Interstadial 8 was not due to climate change or a change in adaptation, but rather concurrent AMH geographic expansion appears to have produced competition that led to Neanderthal extinction.     

Microbial co-habitation and lateral gene transfer: what transposases can tell us

Background

Determining the habitat range for various microbes is not a simple, straightforward matter, as habitats interlace, microbes move between habitats, and microbial communities change over time. In this study, we explore an approach using the history of lateral gene transfer recorded in microbial genomes to begin to answer two key questions: where have you been and who have you been with?

Results

All currently sequenced microbial genomes were surveyed to identify pairs of taxa that share a transposase that is likely to have been acquired through lateral gene transfer. A microbial interaction network including almost 800 organisms was then derived from these connections. Although the majority of the connections are between closely related organisms with the same or overlapping habitat assignments, numerous examples were found of cross-habitat and cross-phylum connections.

Conclusions

We present a large-scale study of the distributions of transposases across phylogeny and habitat, and find a significant correlation between habitat and transposase connections. We observed cases where phylogenetic boundaries are traversed, especially when organisms share habitats; this suggests that the potential exists for genetic material to move laterally between diverse groups via bridging connections. The results presented here also suggest that the complex dynamics of microbial ecology may be traceable in the microbial genomes.     

Patterns of genetic variability and habitat occupancy in Crepis triasii (Asteraceae) at different spatial scales: insights on evolutionary processes leading to diversification in continental islands

Background and Aims

Archipelagos are unique systems for studying evolutionary processes promoting diversification and speciation. The islands of the Mediterranean basin are major areas of plant richness, including a high proportion of narrow endemics. Many endemic plants are currently found in rocky habitats, showing varying patterns of habitat occupancy at different spatial scales throughout their range. The aim of the present study was to understand the impact of varying patterns of population distribution on genetic diversity and structure to shed light on demographic and evolutionary processes leading to population diversification in Crepis triasii, an endemic plant from the eastern Balearic Islands.

Methods

Using allozyme and chloroplast markers, we related patterns of genetic structure and diversity to those of habitat occupancy at a regional (between islands and among populations within islands) and landscape (population size and connectivity) scale.

Key Results

Genetic diversity was highly structured both at the regional and at the landscape level, and was positively correlated with population connectivity in the landscape. Populations located in small isolated mountains and coastal areas, with restricted patterns of regional occupancy, were genetically less diverse and much more differentiated. In addition, more isolated populations had stronger fine-scale genetic structure than well-connected ones. Changes in habitat availability and quality arising from marine transgressions during the Quaternary, as well as progressive fragmentation associated with the aridification of the climate since the last glaciation, are the most plausible factors leading to the observed patterns of genetic diversity and structure.

Conclusions

Our results emphasize the importance of gene flow in preventing genetic erosion and maintaining the evolutionary potential of populations. They also agree with recent studies highlighting the importance of restricted gene flow and genetic drift as drivers of plant evolution in Mediterranean continental islands.     

The role of seed traits in determining the phylogenetic structure of temperate plant communities

Background and Aims

Phylogenetic clustering of species within plant communities can be expected to result from environmental filtering acting on an evolutionary-conserved plant trait. One such a candidate trait is the embryo to seed-size ratio (E:S). A high E:S may allow faster germination immediately after imbibition, and is therefore assumed to be advantageous in dry habitats. In this study the hypothesis was tested that habitat filtering driven by soil moisture conditions and acting on seed germination and seedling establishment is an important ecological mechanism in structuring temperate plant communities.

Methods

Vegetation samplings were performed in three habitats located within 200 km of each other in western Europe: Ellenberg indicator values showed that the habitats selected differed substantially in terms of soil moisture and light availability. E.S ratio and seed mass data for all genera were obtained from literature. Data were analysed using recently developed phylogenetic methods.

Key Results

Genera with a similar E:S tend to co-occur, as low and high E:S genera dominate in moist and dry habitats, respectively. A phylogenetically clustered pattern of community structure was evident, and dispersion of E:S was positively related to phylogenetic dispersion.

Conclusions

The phenotypically and phylogenetically clustered pattern indicates that E:S-mediated habitat filtering is an important assembly process structuring the plant community of the temperate climate habitats studied.     

Predicting the Location and Spatial Extent of Submerged Coral Reef Habitat in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area,Australia

Aim

Coral reef communities occurring in deeper waters have received little research effort compared to their shallow-water counterparts, and even such basic information as their location and extent are currently unknown throughout most of the world. Using the Great Barrier Reef as a case study, habitat suitability modelling is used to predict the distribution of deep-water coral reef communities on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. We test the effectiveness of a range of geophysical and environmental variables for predicting the location of deep-water coral reef communities on the Great Barrier Reef.

Location

Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Methods

Maximum entropy modelling is used to identify the spatial extent of two broad communities of habitat-forming megabenthos phototrophs and heterotrophs. Models were generated using combinations of geophysical substrate properties derived from multibeam bathymetry and environmental data derived from Bio-ORACLE, combined with georeferenced occurrence records of mesophotic coral communities from autonomous underwater vehicle, remotely operated vehicle and SCUBA surveys. Model results are used to estimate the total amount of mesophotic coral reef habitat on the GBR.

Results

Our models predict extensive but previously undocumented coral communities occurring both along the continental shelf-edge of the Great Barrier Reef and also on submerged reefs inside the lagoon. Habitat suitability for phototrophs is highest on submerged reefs along the outer-shelf and the deeper flanks of emergent reefs inside the GBR lagoon, while suitability for heterotrophs is highest in the deep waters along the shelf-edge. Models using only geophysical variables consistently outperformed models incorporating environmental data for both phototrophs and heterotrophs.

Main Conclusion

Extensive submerged coral reef communities that are currently undocumented are likely to occur throughout the Great Barrier Reef. High-quality bathymetry data can be used to identify these reefs, which may play an important role in resilience of the GBR ecosystem to climate change.     

'Caribbean Creep' chills out: climate change and marine invasive species

Background

New marine invasions have been recorded in increasing numbers along the world''s coasts due in part to the warming of the oceans and the ability of many invasive marine species to tolerate a broader thermal range than native species. Several marine invertebrate species have invaded the U.S. southern and mid-Atlantic coast from the Caribbean and this poleward range expansion has been termed ‘Caribbean Creep’. While models have predicted the continued decline of global biodiversity over the next 100 years due to global climate change, few studies have examined the episodic impacts of prolonged cold events that could impact species range expansions.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A pronounced cold spell occurred in January 2010 in the U.S. southern and mid-Atlantic coast and resulted in the mortality of several terrestrial and marine species. To experimentally test whether cold-water temperatures may have caused the disappearance of one species of the ‘Caribbean Creep’ we exposed the non-native crab Petrolisthes armatus to different thermal treatments that mimicked abnormal and severe winter temperatures. Our findings indicate that Petrolisthes armatus cannot tolerate prolonged and extreme cold temperatures (4–6°C) and suggest that aperiodic cold winters may be a critical ‘reset’ mechanism that will limit the range expansion of other ‘Caribbean Creep’ species.

Conclusions/Significance

We suggest that temperature ‘aberrations’ such as ‘cold snaps’ are an important and overlooked part of climate change. These climate fluctuations should be accounted for in future studies and models, particularly with reference to introduced subtropical and tropical species and predictions of both rates of invasion and rates of unidirectional geographic expansion.     

Claims of potential expansion throughout the U.S. by invasive python species are contradicted by ecological niche models

Background

Recent reports from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) suggested that invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades may quickly spread into many parts of the U.S. due to putative climatic suitability. Additionally, projected trends of global warming were predicted to significantly increase suitable habitat and promote range expansion by these snakes. However, the ecological limitations of the Burmese python are not known and the possible effects of global warming on the potential expansion of the species are also unclear.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we show that a predicted continental expansion is unlikely based on the ecology of the organism and the climate of the U.S. Our ecological niche models, which include variables representing climatic extremes as well as averages, indicate that the only suitable habitat in the U.S. for Burmese pythons presently occurs in southern Florida and in extreme southern Texas. Models based on the current distribution of the snake predict suitable habitat in essentially the only region in which the snakes are found in the U.S. Future climate models based on global warming forecasts actually indicate a significant contraction in suitable habitat for Burmese pythons in the U.S. as well as in their native range.

Conclusions/Significance

The Burmese python is strongly limited to the small area of suitable environmental conditions in the United States it currently inhabits due to the ecological niche preferences of the snake. The ability of the Burmese python to expand further into the U.S. is severely limited by ecological constraints. Global warming is predicted to significantly reduce the area of suitable habitat worldwide, underscoring the potential negative effects of climate change for many species.     

Informing species conservation at multiple scales using data collected for marine mammal stock assessments

Background

Conservation planning and the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) requires spatially explicit information on the distribution of ecological features. Most species of marine mammals range over large areas and across multiple planning regions. The spatial distributions of marine mammals are difficult to predict using habitat modelling at ecological scales because of insufficient understanding of their habitat needs, however, relevant information may be available from surveys conducted to inform mandatory stock assessments.

Methodology and Results

We use a 20-year time series of systematic aerial surveys of dugong (Dugong dugong) abundance to create spatially-explicit models of dugong distribution and relative density at the scale of the coastal waters of northeast Australia (∼136,000 km²). We interpolated the corrected data at the scale of 2 km * 2 km planning units using geostatistics. Planning units were classified as low, medium, high and very high dugong density on the basis of the relative density of dugongs estimated from the models and a frequency analysis. Torres Strait was identified as the most significant dugong habitat in northeast Australia and the most globally significant habitat known for any member of the Order Sirenia. The models are used by local, State and Federal agencies to inform management decisions related to the Indigenous harvest of dugongs, gill-net fisheries and Australia''s National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas.

Conclusion/Significance

In this paper we demonstrate that spatially-explicit population models add value to data collected for stock assessments, provide a robust alternative to predictive habitat distribution models, and inform species conservation at multiple scales.     

Relative Amino Acid Composition Signatures of Organisms and Environments

Background

Identifying organism-environment interactions at the molecular level is crucial to understanding how organisms adapt to and change the chemical and molecular landscape of their habitats. In this work we investigated whether relative amino acid compositions could be used as a molecular signature of an environment and whether such a signature could also be observed at the level of the cellular amino acid composition of the microorganisms that inhabit that environment.

Methodologies/Principal Findings

To address these questions we collected and analyzed environmental amino acid determinations from the literature, and estimated from complete genomic sequences the global relative amino acid abundances of organisms that are cognate to the different types of environment. Environmental relative amino acid abundances clustered into broad groups (ocean waters, host-associated environments, grass land environments, sandy soils and sediments, and forest soils), indicating the presence of amino acid signatures specific for each environment. These signatures correlate to those found in organisms. Nevertheless, relative amino acid abundance of organisms was more influenced by GC content than habitat or phylogeny.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that relative amino acid composition can be used as a signature of an environment. In addition, we observed that the relative amino acid composition of organisms is not highly determined by environment, reinforcing previous studies that find GC content to be the major factor correlating to amino acid composition in living organisms.     

Patterns of diversity in soft-bodied meiofauna: dispersal ability and body size matter

Background

Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups.

Methodology/Principal Findings

As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat.

Conclusion/Significance

Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.     

Body Structures and Physical Complaints in Upper Limb Reduction Deficiency: A 24-Year Follow-Up Study

Objective

To describe upper body structures associated with upper limb reduction deficiency and the development of these structures over time, to examine the presence of physical complaints in this population, and to compare body structures and complaints between groups based on prosthesis use.

Design

Prospective cohort study with a follow-up period of 24 years, with matched able-bodied controls.

Subjects

Twenty-eight patients with unilateral below-elbow reduction deficiency fitted with myoelectric prostheses, aged 8–18 years at inclusion.

Method

Measurements of upper arm, trunk and spine were performed and study-specific questionnaires were answered at baseline and follow-up; the Brief Pain Inventory and the Quick Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaires were answered at follow-up.

Results

Both at baseline and follow-up, within-subjects differences in structures of the arm and trunk were shown in patients but not in controls. Spinal deviations, although small, were greater in patients compared to controls. Self-reported disability was higher in patients compared to controls. Differences in back pain and effect of prostheses use could not be shown.

Conclusions

Patients with unilateral below-elbow reduction deficiency have consistent differences in upper body structures. Deviations of the spine, probably of functional origin, do not progress to clinically relevant scoliosis.     

Monophyly,Distance and Character–Based Multigene Barcoding Reveal Extraordinary Cryptic Diversity in Nassarius: A Complex and Dangerous Community

Background

Correct identification and cryptic biodiversity revelation for marine organisms are pressing since the marine life is important in maintaining the balance of ecological system and is facing the problem of biodiversity crisis or food safety. DNA barcoding has been proved successful to provide resolution beyond the boundaries of morphological information. Nassarius, the common mudsnail, plays an important role in marine environment and has problem in food safety, but the classification of it is quite confused because of the complex morphological diversity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we report a comprehensive barcoding analysis of 22 Nassarius species. We integrated the mitochondrial and nuclear sequences and the morphological characters to determine 13 Nassarius species studied and reveal four cryptic species and one pair synonyms. Distance, monophyly, and character–based barcoding methods were employed.

Conclusions/Significance

Such successful identification and unexpected cryptic discovery is significant for Nassarius in food safety and species conversation and remind us to pay more attention to the hidden cryptic biodiversity ignored in marine life. Distance, monophyly, and character–based barcoding methods are all very helpful in identification but the character-based method shows some advantages.     

Bird Communities of the Arctic Shrub Tundra of Yamal: Habitat Specialists and Generalists

Background

The ratio of habitat generalists to specialists in birds has been suggested as a good indicator of ecosystem changes due to e.g. climate change and other anthropogenic perturbations. Most studies focusing on this functional component of biodiversity originate, however, from temperate regions. The Eurasian Arctic tundra is currently experiencing an unprecedented combination of climate change, change in grazing pressure by domestic reindeer and growing human activity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we monitored bird communities in a tundra landscape harbouring shrub and open habitats in order to analyse bird habitat relationships and quantify habitat specialization. We used ordination methods to analyse habitat associations and estimated the proportions of specialists in each of the main habitats. Correspondence Analysis identified three main bird communities, inhabiting upland, lowland and dense willow shrubs. We documented a stable structure of communities despite large multiannual variations of bird density (from 90 to 175 pairs/km²). Willow shrub thickets were a hotspot for bird density, but not for species richness. The thickets hosted many specialized species whose main distribution area was south of the tundra.

Conclusion/Significance

If current arctic changes result in a shrubification of the landscape as many studies suggested, we would expect an increase in the overall bird abundance together with an increase of local specialists, since they are associated with willow thickets. The majority of these species have a southern origin and their increase in abundance would represent a strengthening of the boreal component in the southern tundra, perhaps at the expense of species typical of the subarctic zone, which appear to be generalists within this zone.     

Public Hygiene Campaign in Denmark during the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Had No Effect on Hospitalization Rate of Communicable Diseases in Children

Background

During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic the Danish National board of Health carried out massive public hygiene campaigns to limit spread of disease. We aimed to investigate whether this resulted in lower incidences of communicable diseases in the paediatric population.

Methods

The study compared annual hospitalization rates for childhood infections from 2005 to 2011.

Results

Admission rates for infections were higher during the year of the pandemic compared to the rest of the period.

Conclusion

There were no indications of a preventive effect by the hygiene campaign on incidence of severe common childhood infections.     

Analytical Performance of the Roche LightCycler? Mycobacterium Detection Kit for the Diagnosis of Clinically Important Mycobacterial Species

Background

The LightCycler® Mycobacterium Detection Kit based on real-time PCR technology for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium kansasii was recently developed. This study evaluated its analytical sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Plasmid standards were prepared and used to determine the limit of detection. The assay was also performed against organisms other than mycobacteria, other mycobacterial strains and interfering substances to exclude cross-reactivity and interference. Reference standards were prepared and tested to assess the assay''s reproducibility. All PCR assays were performed using the LightCycler® 2.0 Instrument. The detection limit for M. tuberculosis was 28 copies per microlitre. Neither cross-reactivity nor interference occurred with non-mycobacterial organisms and substances tested. Overall reproducibility for consecutive measurements, run-to-run, lot-to-lot, day-to-day and laboratory-to-laboratory achieved a coefficient of variance of less than two percent.

Significance

The LightCycler® Mycobacterium Detection kit has shown to be a robust and accurate assay with the potential to be used as a rapid TB diagnostic test.