Journal List > Korean J Lab Med > v.29(4) > 1011558

Yun, Song, Choi, Hwang, Lee, and Chang: Strain Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Korea by Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number of Tandem Repeats

Abstract

Background:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the most clinically significant infectious agents. Especially during mass outbreaks, accurate identification and monitoring are required. The proportion of Beijing family members is very high among infecting strains, and spoligotyping is not suitable for strain typing. Therefore, we studied the homogeneity of isolates using the mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) method and identified its utility for carrying out molecular epidemiologic analysis.

Methods:

Eighty-one clinical M. tuberculosis isolates that had previously been analyzed by spoligotyping were used in this study. We used the 12 standard MIRU loci and further four exact tandem repeat (ETR) loci (ETR-A, -B, -C, and -F). Four strains each of randomly selected Beijing and Beijinglike families were subjected to IS6110- restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

Results:

All 81 samples showed amplification products of all VNTR loci, and all of them showed differences in at least one locus. The calculation of the Hunter-Gaston diversity index (HGDI) for MIRU-VNTR gave the value of 0.965. Discriminatory index in the six loci (MIRU-10, −16, −26, −31, −39, and ETR-F) were found to be highly discriminated (HGDI >0.6). Beijing and Beijing-like family isolates were discriminated into different MIRU-VNTR types.

Conclusions:

MIRU-VNTR analysis by using well-selected loci can be useful in discriminating the clinical M. tuberculosis isolates in areas where the Beijing family is predominant.

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Fig. 1.
MIRU-VNTR electrophoresis patterns of three M. tuberculosis isolates. Lane M, 100-bp molecular marker. Other lanes in each isolate represent the 16 VNTR loci. Order of the 16 VNTR loci is the same as in Table 1 and 2.
Abbreviation: See Table 1.
kjlm-29-314f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Comparison of molecular strain typing patterns of four M. tuberculosis Beijing family isolates showing the diversity of MIRU-VNTR. (A) IS6110 RFLP analysis pattern, (B) Spoligotyping pattern, and (C) MIRU-VNTR pattern. Order of the 16 VNTR loci is the same as in Table 1 and 2. All isolates belonging to the Beijing family defined by Kremer et al. [21] hybridized to the last nine probes in spoligotyping, but differed in at least three loci in MIRU-VNTR analysis.
Abbreviations: RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphism; MIRU-VNTR, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats.
kjlm-29-314f2.tif
Fig. 3.
Comparison of molecular strain typing patterns of four M. tuberculosis Beijing-like family isolates showing diversity of MIRU-VNTR. (A) IS6110 RFLP analysis pattern, (B) Spoligotyping pattern, and (C) MIRU-VNTR pattern. Order of the 16 VNTR loci is the same as in Table 1 and 2. All isolates belonging to the Beijing-like family defined by Kremer et al. [21] hybridized exclusively with most of the last nine probes in spoligotyping, but differed from each other in at least two loci in MIRU-VNTR analysis.
Abbreviations: See Fig. 2.
kjlm-29-314f3.tif
Table 1.
Primer sequences for amplifying MIRU-VNTR loci
Primer Sequence (5′-3′) Primer Sequence (5′-3′)
MIRU-2F TGGACTTGCAGCAATGGACCAACT MIRU-2R TACTCGGACGCCGGCTCAAAAT
MIRU-4F GCGCGAGAGCCCGAACTGC MIRU-4R GCGCAGCAGAAACGTCAGC
MIRU-10F GTTCTTGACCAACTGCAGTCGTCC MIRU-10R GCCACCTTGGTGATCAGCTACCT
MIRU-16F TCGGTGATCGGGTCCAGTCCAAGTA MIRU-16R CCCGTCGTGCAGCCCTGGTAC
MIRU-20F TCGGAGAGATGCCCTTCGAGTTAG MIRU-20R GGAGACCGCGACCAGGTACTTGTA
MIRU-23F CTGTCGATGGCCGCAACAAAACG MIRU-23R AGCTCAACGGGTTCGCCCTTTTGTC
MIRU-24F CGACCAAGATGTGCAGGAATACAT MIRU-24R GGGCGAGTTGAGCTCACAGAA
MIRU-26F TAGGTCTACCGTCGAAATCTGTGAC MIRU-26R CATAGGCGACCAGGCGAATAG
MIRU-27F TCGAAAGCCTCTGCGTGCCAGTAA MIRU-27R GCGATGTGAGCGTGCCACTCAA
MIRU-31F ACTGATTGGCTTCATACGGCTTTA MIRU-31R GTGCCGACGTGGTCTTGAT
MIRU-39F CGCATCGACAAACTGGAGCCAAAC MIRU-39R CGGAAACGTCTACGCCCCACACAT
MIRU-40F GGGTTGCTGGATGACAACGTGT MIRU-40R GGGTGATCTCGGCGAAATCAGATA
ETR-AF AAATCGGTCCCATCACCTTCTTAT ETR-AR CGAAGCCTGGGGTGCCCGCGATTT
ETR-BF GGCATGCCGGTGATCGAGTGG ETR-BR GGCATGCCGGTGATCGAGTGG
ETR-CF GTGAGTCGCTGCAGAACCTGCAG ETR-CR GGCGTCTTGACCTCCACGAGTG
ETR-FF CTCGGTGATGGTCCGGCCGGTCAC ETR-FR GGAAGTGCTCGACAACGCCATGCC

Abbreviations: MIRU-VNTR, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats.

Table 2.
Distribution of 81 M. tuberculosis isolates containing variable numbers of each VNTR locus and allelic diversity
VNTR Loci N of VNTR repeats HGDI
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
MIRU-2   18 61 2             0.388
MIRU-4 1 3 77               0.096
MIRU-10   4 35 34 8           0.633
MIRU-16   2 32 35 12           0.643
MIRU-20   4 77               0.095
MIRU-23         6 69 4 1 1   0.269
MIRU-24   78 3               0.072
MIRU-26     1 12 12 9 12 28 5 2 0.808
MIRU-27   1 23 50 7           0.537
MIRU-31   1 8 17 24 20 11       0.789
MIRU-39   10 34 30 7           0.672
MIRU-40   1 25 47 7 1         0.567
ETR-A   2   5 73 1         0.185
ETR-B   3 72 6             0.206
ETR-C     1 5 74 1         0.163
ETR-F 1 10 33 26 10 1         0.709

Boldface type indicates loci showing high discriminatory power as defined by Sola et al. [20].

Abbreviations: MIRU-VNTR, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats; HGDI, Hunter-Gaston diversity index; ETR, exact tandem repeat.

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