title: [Application of multiplex polymerase chain reaction in rapid identification of Mycobacterium bovis BCG].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish a method for the rapid identification of Mycobacterium bovis BCG.
  
  
  METHODS
  A genomic region designated RD1 was found to be deleted from BCG strains, but present in other strains of Mycobacterium bovis and other members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum, and Mycobacterium microti. With this information, a multiplex PCR method, developed to detect the deletion of RD1, was used to differentiate BCG strains from other strains of Mycobacterium bovis and other members of MTC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RD1 was shown to be absent in 5 BCG vaccine strains and 2 BCG strains isolated from an infant who died of systemic disseminated infection induced by BCG vaccination, but it was present in 3 Mycobacterium bovis standard strains, 6 Mycobacterium bovis strains isolated from diseased cows, deer or patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and other MTC strains including Mycobacterium tuberculosis H(37)Rv and H(37)Ra strains, 48 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, and 3 Mycobacterium africanum standard strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The multiplex PCR method is simple, rapid, and specific for the identification of BCG among strains of MTC, and is applicable in clinical laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Tuberculosis Research Laboratory, 309th Hospital of People Liberation Army, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Guo-li
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bao-wen
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Guo-zhi
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiao-bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Gui-zhi
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*