This excellent demonstration of the utility of mycobacterial metabolomics and its broad application in hunting possible drug targets will definitely go a long way in strengthening the academic cause of anti-infectives discovery in India. Genomic plasticity, chemical complexity and phenotypic versatility of pathogenic mycobacteria are the three interlinked forces that stratify pathogenic impacts of potentially virulent species in a biologically changing host. Our understanding of mycobacterial diversity and differential pathogenesis is based on this paradigm. However, this study surprisingly (and robustly) reveals that reductive evolution due to massive gene decay in M. leprae does not significantly affect the global structure of its metabolic circuitry.
On the other note, this paper also marks strengthening of a contemporary and most welcome trend of open access publishing adopted by the Indian Institute of Science researchers.