JCM Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Filliol, I.
Right arrow Articles by Rastogi, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Filliol, I.
Right arrow Articles by Rastogi, N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1231-1234, Vol. 38, No. 3
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Detection of a Previously Unamplified Spacer within the DR Locus of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Epidemiological Implications

Ingrid Filliol, Christophe Sola, and Nalin Rastogi*

Unité de la Tuberculose et des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur, F-97165 Pointe à Pitre Cedex, Guadeloupe

Received 28 September 1999/Accepted 8 December 1999

Spoligotyping, a method based on the variability of distribution of the 43 inter-direct repeat (DR) spacers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis BCG, is useful to study the molecular epidemiology of bovine and human tuberculosis. Recently, a major family of M. tuberculosis clinical isolates named the Haarlem family, which did not contain spacers 31 and 33 to 36, was reported in a multicenter study. Independently, a data bank containing all the published spoligotypes showed that the two most prevalent spoligotypes in the world differed only by the presence or absence of spacer 31. A careful analysis of the DR locus sequence led us to hypothesize that spacer 31 may not have been amplified in some isolates with the primer sets DRa and DRb currently used for spoligotyping. Consequently, a modified spoligotyping method based on different combinations of the 36-bp DR and IS6110 primers was devised that was able to discriminate between the left and the right parts of the DR locus and demonstrated the presence of the previously unamplified spacer 31 for some of the clinical isolates. By analogy, we suggest that a single-spacer difference in some epidemiologically linked cases of tuberculosis may simply arise due to the insertion of an extra copy of IS6110 within the DR locus, leading to its asymmetrical disruption and subsequent lack of the DRa or DRb targets. The influence of the IS6110 preferential insertion sites within the DR locus on spoligotyping results should be further investigated.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité de la Tuberculose et des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur, Morne Jolivière, BP 484, F-97165 Pointe-à-Pitre Cedex, Guadeloupe. Phone: 590-893-881. Fax: 590-893-880. E-mail: rastogi{at}ipagua.gp.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1231-1234, Vol. 38, No. 3
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.