Genotyping of rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates by mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit -: variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) analysis

Molecular typing methods have greatly enhanced our understanding on epidemiology of tuberculosis and allowed us to identify outbreaks and intertransmission within populations. Recently, a set of 12 variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR), designated mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRU), has been described as being useful for the typing of M.tuberculosis. In this study, 26 rifampin (RIF) resistant M.tuberculosis isolates with known IS6110-RFLP patterns obtained from 26 different patients in Aegean Region were typed by MIRU-VNTR and the data were compared with IS6110-RFLP results. The results showed that in most isolates the clustering on the basis of IS6110 RFLP typing and that on the basis of MIRU-VNTR typing were in agreement. It was also determined that the loci including MIRU 16, MIRU 40, MIRU 26, MIRU 10, MIRU 04 and MIRU 31, respectively, have the highest allelic diversities and discriminatory power. In conclusion, since the discrimination level of conventional MIRU-VNTR including 12 loci might be variable, by the use of additional loci which present high degree of allelic differentiation, this method would be reliable for the epidemiologic studies.