Genome polymorphism of Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis strains

The nontuberculosis mycobacteria Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) are able to cause human mycobacteriosis. In this work, results of the first comprehensive study of the genome polymorphism of the clinical strains of MAH are reported for Russia using a typing scheme of 13 MATR VNTR loci (TR292, TRX3, TR25, TR47, MATR-1, MATR-4, MATR-5, MATR-6, MATR-8, MATR-11, MATR-14, MATR-15, MATR-16) containing tandem nucleotide sites and IS1245 RFLP typing sites. Ninety MAH strains isolated from patients with epidemiologically unconnected lung mycobacteriosis (including HIV-positive ones) were tested in 2008-2011. The heterogeneity of the MAH strains in accordance with 36 profiles of 13 MATR VNTR loci was observed. The majority of the strains (68.8%) were in eight MATR VNTR clusters; the biggest cluster contained 37 strains with the 13-bit numerical profile 2222223145443′. The nucleotide sequence of the MATR-16 (3′) locus contains an extensive deletion (GenBank accession no. KF479191). The MAH strains of the MATR VNTR clusters were found to be heterogeneous by the IS1245 marker. The MATR VNTR typing method by 13 loci is recommended for preliminary differentiation of domestic MAH strains with further analysis of the MATR VNTR clusters using the IS1245 RFLP typing method.