Vaccine efficacy of a lysine auxotroph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The in vivo growth phenotype and vaccine efficacy of a lysine auxotrophic mutant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv are described. An immunization experiment using a mouse model with an aerosol challenge showed that two doses of the M. tuberculosis mutant were required to generate protection equivalent to that of the Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine.