This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: JCM.02089-07v1 46/4/1398    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Allix-Béguec, C. Articles by Supply, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Allix-Béguec, C. Articles by Supply, P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2008, p. 1398-1406, Vol. 46, No. 4
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02089-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Three-Year Population-Based Evaluation of Standardized Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive-Unit-Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Caroline Allix-Béguec,^1, Maryse Fauville-Dufaux,^1, and Philip Supply^2,3,*

Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Institut Pasteur de Bruxelles, Laboratoire Tuberculose et Mycobacteries, rue Engeland 642, 1180 Bruxelles, Belgium,¹ Institut Pasteur de Lille,² Laboratoire des Mécanismes Moléculaires de la Pathogenèse Bactérienne, INSERM U629-1, rue du Professeur Calmette, BP 245, 59019 Lille Cedex, France³

Received 29 October 2007/ Returned for modification 10 December 2007/ Accepted 22 January 2008

Standardized mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit-variable-number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing based on 15 and 24 loci recently has been proposed for Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotyping. So far, this optimized system has been assessed in a single, 1-year population-based study performed in Germany (M. C. Oelemann, R. Diel, V. Vatin, W. Haas, S. Rusch-Gerdes, C. Locht, S. Niemann, and P. Supply, J. Clin. Microbiol. 45:691-697, 2007). Here, we evaluated these optimized formats in a much larger population-based study conducted during 39 months in the Brussels capital region of Belgium. Isolates from 807 patients were genotyped. The resolution power, cluster, and lineage identification by the standardized MIRU-VNTR sets were compared to those obtained using standardized IS6110-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), spoligotyping, and a previous 12-MIRU-VNTR-locus set. On a subset representing 77% of the cases during a 16-month period, a high concordance was observed between unique isolates or strain clusters as defined by standardized MIRU-VNTR and IS6110-RFLP (i.e., more than five IS6110 bands). When extended to the entire population-based collection, the discriminatory subset of 15 loci decreased the strain-clustering rate by almost twofold compared to that of the old 12-locus set. The addition of the nine ancillary MIRU-VNTR loci and/or spoligotyping only slightly further decreased this strain-clustering rate. Familial, social, and/or geographic proximity links were found in 48% of the clusters identified, and well-known risk factors for tuberculosis transmission were identified. Finally, an excellent correspondence was determined between our MIRU-VNTR-spoligotyping strain identifications and external reference strain lineages included in the MIRU-VNTRplus database and identified by, e.g., large sequence polymorphisms. Our results reinforce the proposal of standardized MIRU-VNTR typing as a new reference genotyping method for the epidemiological and phylogenetic screening of M. tuberculosis strains.

Published ahead of print on 30 January 2008.

Present address: Genoscreen, Campus de l'Institut Pasteur de Lille, 1 rue du Professeur Calmette, 59000 Lille, France.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hanekom, M., van der Spuy, G. D., van Pittius, N. C. G., McEvoy, C. R. E., Hoek, K. G. P., Ndabambi, S. L., Jordaan, A. M., Victor, T. C., van Helden, P. D., Warren, R. M. (2008). Discordance between Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive-Unit-Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Typing and IS6110 Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Genotyping for Analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing Strains in a Setting of High Incidence of Tuberculosis . J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 3338-3345 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Valcheva, V., Mokrousov, I., Narvskaya, O., Rastogi, N., Markova, N. (2008). Utility of New 24-Locus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Typing for Discriminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates Collected in Bulgaria. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 3005-3011 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Allix-Beguec, C., Harmsen, D., Weniger, T., Supply, P., Niemann, S. (2008). Evaluation and Strategy for Use of MIRU-VNTRplus, a Multifunctional Database for Online Analysis of Genotyping Data and Phylogenetic Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Isolates. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 2692-2699 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Monot, M., Honore, N., Baliere, C., Ji, B., Sow, S., Brennan, P. J., Cole, S. T. (2008). Are Variable-Number Tandem Repeats Appropriate for Genotyping Mycobacterium leprae?. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 2291-2297 [Abstract] [Full Text]