Clinical manifestations of tuberculosis range from asymptomatic infection to a life-threatening disease such as tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Recent studies showed that the spectrum of disease severity could be related to genetic diversity among clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Certain strains are reported to preferentially invade the central nervous system, thus earning the label “hypervirulent strains”.However, specific genetic mutations that accounted for enhanced mycobacterial virulence are still unknown. We previously identified a set of 17...