title: Genotyping North American animal Mycobacterium bovis isolates using multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis.
abstract: Multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) has recently emerged as a genotyping method that is both robust and highly discriminatory for the differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains, including Mycobacterium bovis. However, MLVA assessment of M. bovis isolates recovered from animals in North America has been limited. Using an epidemiologically diverse set of 41 North American M. bovis animal isolates, MLVA, based on 27 published variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) loci, was evaluated. Nineteen loci displayed polymorphism, which resulted in differentiation of 21 unique MLVA genotypes. A subset of 6 loci differentiated the isolates into 14 genetically related groups that displayed remarkable concordance with the epidemiological data gathered via traditional trace-back methods. In most cases, MLVA exhibited greater resolution than spoligotyping, which differentiated the isolates into 11 groups. MLVA genotyping of M. bovis shows great potential as a molecular typing tool for characterizing the epidemiology of M. bovis animal infections in North America. However, the greatest resolution was achieved by using a combination of both MLVA and spoligotyping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1682, USA.
authors.forename: Lorene R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Varalakshmi D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Vissa
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial