title: Genetic diversity and population structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Casablanca, a Moroccan city with high incidence of tuberculosis.
abstract: Although lower-resource countries have by far the highest burden of tuberculosis, knowledge of Mycobacterium tuberculosis population structure and genetic diversity in these regions remains almost nonexistent. In this paper, 150 Moroccan M. tuberculosis isolates circulating in Casablanca were genotyped by random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis using 10 different primers and by mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats typing at 12 loci. The population genetic tests revealed a basically clonal structure for this population, without excluding rare genetic exchanges. Genetic analysis also showed a notable genetic polymorphism for the species M. tuberculosis, a weak cluster individualization, and an unexpected genetic diversity for a population in such a high-incidence community. Phylogenetic analyses of this Moroccan sample also supported that these isolates are genetically heterogeneous.
authors.affiliation: Génétique des Maladies Infectieuses, UMR CNRS-IRD 9926, IRD, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. ltazi@uci.edu
authors.forename: Loubna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tazi
authors.forename: Jamila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: El Baghdadi
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lesjean
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Locht
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Supply
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tibayrenc
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bañuls
mesh_terms: D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology