title: Molecular characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Izmir, Turkey.
abstract: In recent years, molecular typing methods have been used in epidemiologic studies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in various areas of the world. However, there have been few data on this issue in Turkey. We describe the molecular characterization of 56 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates recovered from individual patients in Izmir and the surrounding area by three different molecular methods. Isolated M. tuberculosis strains were characterized by IS6110 RFLP, spoligotyping and major genetic group designation. In total, 51 RFLP and 35 spoligopatterns were identified. Fourteen (25%) isolates were indicated as low copy number. Based on three genotypic characterization methods together, five clusters with two isolates each were identified. Most of the isolates (98.2%) were assigned as genetic groups 2 or 3. Only one isolate was identified as Beijing family strain (principal genetic group 1). The shared international clades were found to be Beijing-family, var T1 (ST 37), LAM (Latin-American-Mediterranean) 7 (ST 41), LAM 9 (ST 42), Haarlem 1 (ST 47), Haarlem 3 (ST 50) and T1 (ST 53). In this study, IS6110 RFLP, spoligotyping and major genetic group designation were found to be useful methods for molecular epidemiologic studies.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Research and Training Hospital For Chest Diseases and Chest Surgery, Yenisehir, Izmir, Turkey. cbicmen@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bicmen
authors.forename: Nuran
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Esen
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Graviss
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Williams-Bouyer
authors.forename: Srinivas V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Ramaswamy
authors.forename: Nuran
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yulug
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology