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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2001, p. 1092-1096, Vol. 39, No. 3
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.37.3.1092-1096.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification of a Contaminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strain with a Transposition of an IS6110 Insertion Element Resulting in an Altered Spoligotype

William H. Benjamin Jr.,1 Kerry H. Lok,1 Randall Harris,1 Nancy Brook,2 Lisa Bond,2 Donna Mulcahy,2 Nancy Robinson,2 Virginia Pruitt,2 deNay P. Kirkpatrick,1 Michael E. Kimerling,1 and Nancy E. Dunlap1,*

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham,1 and the Alabama Department of Public Health, Montgomery,2 Alabama

Received 11 September 2000/Returned for modification 1 December 2000/Accepted 6 January 2001

Molecular fingerprinting with the IS6110 insertion sequence is useful for tracking transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within a population or confirming specimen contamination in the laboratory or through instrumentation. Secondary typing with other molecular methods yields additional information as to the relatedness of strains with similar IS6110 fingerprints. Isolated, relatively rare, random events within the M. tuberculosis genome alter molecular fingerprinting patterns with any of the methods; therefore, strains which are different by two or more typing methods are usually not considered to be closely related. In this report, we describe two strains of M. tuberculosis, obtained from the same bronchoscope 2 days apart, that demonstrated unique molecular fingerprinting patterns by two different typing methods. They were closely linked through the bronchoscope by a traditional epidemiologic investigation. Genetic analysis of the two strains revealed that a single event, the transposition of an IS6110 insertion sequence in one of the strains, accounted for both the differences in the IS6110 pattern and the apparent deletion of a spacer in the spoligotype. This finding shows that a single event can change the molecular fingerprint of a strain in two different molecular typing systems, and thus, molecular typing cannot be the only means used to track transmission of this organism through a population. Traditional epidemiologic techniques are a necessary complement to molecular fingerprinting so that radical changes within the fingerprint pattern can be identified.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, D-398 DREB, University of Alabama Hospitals, Birmingham, AL 35294-0012. Phone: (205) 934-9876. Fax: (205) 934-6148. E-mail: ndunlap{at}uabmc.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2001, p. 1092-1096, Vol. 39, No. 3
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.37.3.1092-1096.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kong, Y., Cave, M. D., Yang, D., Zhang, L., Marrs, C. F., Foxman, B., Bates, J. H., Wilson, F., Mukasa, L. N., Yang, Z. H. (2005). Distribution of Insertion- and Deletion-Associated Genetic Polymorphisms among Four Mycobacterium tuberculosis Phospholipase C Genes and Associations with Extrathoracic Tuberculosis: a Population-Based Study. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 6048-6053 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sampson, S. L., Warren, R. M., Richardson, M., Victor, T. C., Jordaan, A. M., van der Spuy, G. D., van Helden, P. D. (2003). IS6110-Mediated Deletion Polymorphism in the Direct Repeat Region of Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. Bacteriol. 185: 2856-2866 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • de Boer, A. S., van Soolingen, D., Borgdorff, M. W., Dunlap, N. E., Benjamin, W. H. Jr. (2001). Genetic Mutations Occur Gradually in In Vivo Populations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Bacteria. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 3814-3814 [Full Text]  
  • Sampson, S., Warren, R., Richardson, M., van der Spuy, G., van Helden, P., Dunlap, N., Benjamin, W. H. Jr. (2001). IS6110 Insertions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Predominantly into Coding Regions. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 3423-3424 [Full Text]  


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