Typing of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium leprae and their distribution in Korea.
Although there is no genetic diversity in isolates of Mycobacterium leprae, the variance of tandem repeats in the rpoT gene was recently demonstrated. We have typed clinical isolates of M. leprae in Korea using difference of the tandem repeats in the rpoT gene. Among 69 patients, 65 Korean isolates (94.2%) demonstrated four copies of the 6 bp tandem repeat (GACATC) in the rpoT gene, and incidences of three copies were found in only two Koreans and two foreigners (2.9%, respectively).
Chae
G T
GT
Institute of Hansen's Disease, Department of Pathology, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Korea. guetae@cmc.cuk.ac.kr
Lee
S B
SB
Kang
T J
TJ
Shin
H K
HK
Kim
J P
JP
Ko
Y H
YH
Kim
S H
SH
Kim
N H
NH
D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011336:Probability; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences
D004269:DNA, Bacterial