A 12.7 kb fragment of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome is not present in Mycobacterium bovis.
Southern blotting, sequence analysis and PCR experiments showed that Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium bovis BCG lack a 12.7 kb fragment present in the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This region is 337 bp downstream of the RD2 region, which was previously described as being absent from some M. bovis BCG strains. The 12.7 kb fragment should be useful as a target for a PCR test to differentiate M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. An analysis of the 12.7 kb region suggests that it represents a deletion in M. bovis rather than an insertion in M. tuberculosis. The deletion removes most of the mce-3 operon, one of four highly related operons which may be involved in cell entry, and therefore it may contribute to differences in virulence or host range in the two species.
Zumárraga
Martin
M
Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, 1708 Moron, Argentina.
Bigi
Fabiana
F
Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, 1708 Moron, Argentina.
Alito
Alicia
A
Instituto de Patobiología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, 1708 Moron, Argentina.
Romano
María I
MI
Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, 1708 Moron, Argentina.
Cataldi
Angel
A
Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, 1708 Moron, Argentina.
D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013045:Species Specificity