The present invention provides new immunological compositions and vaccines comprising selected M. tuberculosis antigens and antigenic peptides as well as nucleic acids encoding said antigens for use in the prevention, prophylaxis and treatment of mycobacterial infection, especially tuberculosis. In particular the invention provides recombinant BCG based vaccines in which one or more of the selected M. tuberculosis antigens are over expressed. The invention further provides isolated peptides for use in methods for diagnosing, characterizing, or classifying mycobacterial infections.