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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2009, p. 3647-3652, Vol. 47, No. 11
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00761-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms on the Road to Strain Differentiation in Mycobacterium ulcerans{triangledown}

Michael Käser,* Julia Hauser, and Gerd Pluschke

Swiss Tropical Institute, Molecular Immunology, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland

Received 15 April 2009/ Returned for modification 7 June 2009/ Accepted 23 August 2009

The genomic fine-typing of strains of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of the emerging human disease Buruli ulcer, is difficult due to the clonal population structure of geographical lineages. Although large sequence polymorphisms (LSPs) resulted in the clustering of patient isolates originating from across the globe, differentiation of strains within continents using conventional typing methods is very limited. In this study, we analyzed M. ulcerans LSP haplotype-specific insertion sequence elements among 83 M. ulcerans strains and identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that differentiate between regional strains. This is the first genetic discrimination based on SNPs of M. ulcerans strains from African countries where Buruli ulcer is endemic, resulting in the highest geographic resolution of genotyping so far. The findings support the concept of genome-wide SNP analyses as tools to study the epidemiology and evolution of M. ulcerans at a local level.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Ghanaian-German Centre for Health Research, University of Ghana, School of Public Health, P.O. Box LG 13, Legon, Accra, Ghana. Phone: 233 277291546. Fax: 41 61 2848 101. E-mail: m.kaeser{at}unibas.ch

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 September 2009.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2009, p. 3647-3652, Vol. 47, No. 11
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00761-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kaser, M., Gutmann, O., Hauser, J., Stinear, T., Cole, S., Yeboah-Manu, D., Dernick, G., Certa, U., Pluschke, G. (2009). Lack of Insertional-Deletional Polymorphism in a Collection of Mycobacterium ulcerans Isolates from Ghanaian Buruli Ulcer Patients. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47: 3640-3646 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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