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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 1998, p. 918-925, Vol. 36, No. 4
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Differentiation of Mycobacterium ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum: Mapping of Their Relationships to M. tuberculosis by Fatty Acid Profile Analysis, DNA-DNA Hybridization, and 16S rRNA Gene Sequence Analysis

T. Tønjum,1,* D. B. Welty,2 E. Jantzen,3 and P. L. Small2

Section of Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology, University of Oslo, National Hospital, N-0027 Oslo,1 and Department of Vaccinology, National Institute of Public Health, N-0403 Oslo,3 Norway, and Microscopy Section, Rocky Mountain Laboratory, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana2

Received 25 July 1997/Returned for modification 1 October 1997/Accepted 13 November 1997

Although Mycobacterium ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum are closely related, their exact taxonomic placements have not been determined. We performed gas chromatography of fatty acids and alcohols, as well as DNA-DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, to clarify their relationships to each other and to M. tuberculosis. M. ulcerans and M. marinum were most closely related to one another, and each displayed very strong genetic affinities to M. tuberculosis; they are actually the two mycobacterial species outside the M. tuberculosis complex most closely related to M. tuberculosis. M. haemophilum was more distinct from M. ulcerans and M. marinum, and it appeared to be as related to these two species as to M. tuberculosis. These results are important with regard to the development of diagnostic and epidemiological tools such as species-specific DNA probes and PCR assays for M. ulcerans, M. marinum, and M. haemophilum. In addition, the finding that M. ulcerans and M. marinum are more closely related to M. tuberculosis than are other pathogenic mycobacterial species suggests that they may be evaluated as useful models for studying the pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis. M. marinum may be particularly useful in this regard since strains of this species grow much more rapidly than M. tuberculosis and yet can cause systemic disease in immunocompromised hosts.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, 5641 Medical Science Building II, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0620. Phone: (313) 647 6765. Fax: (313) 764 3562. E-mail: tone.tonjum{at}rh.uio.no.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 1998, p. 918-925, Vol. 36, No. 4
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.