An optimized genomic VCF workflow for precise identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cluster from cross-platform whole genome sequencing data.

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data allow for an inference of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) clusters by using a pairwise genetic distance of ≤12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as a threshold. However, a problem of discrepancies in numbers of SNPs and genetic distance measurement is a great concern when combining WGS data from different next generation sequencing (NGS) platforms. We performed SNP variant calling on WGS data of 9 multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB), 3 extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and a standard M.