title: Use of mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable-number tandem repeat typing to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from East Azarbaijan province of Iran.
abstract: The aim of present study was to determine the genotypes of isolates from East Azarbaijan province by this method. We performed (MIRU-VNTR) analysis of strains, isolated from 127 patients during a period of September 2002 to March 2003 in tuberculosis centers of the province. Among 127 isolates, we found 93 distinct MIRU-VNTR patterns, including in 21 clustered patterns and 72 unique patterns from isolated strains. The discriminatory power of MIRU-VNTR typing in present study was high (HGDI = 0.9932) for isolates. In clusters similar patterns of Nakhichevanees patients and Iranian patients was revealed in three clusters which showed Nakhichevanees patients referred to tuberculosis centers of province could be a source for transmission of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis in this province is relatively in good condition. The allelic diversity of our samples was lower than previous studies. These results indicate that MIRU-VNTR can be a useful and first line tool for studying genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in regional setting such as East Azarbaijan province of Iran.
authors.affiliation: Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Center and Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asgharzadeh
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khakpour
authors.forename: Taghi Zahraei
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.forename: Hossein Samadi
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kafil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology*