title: Genotypes and characteristics of clustering and drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates collected in Heilongjiang Province, China.
abstract: For the last decade China has occupied second place, after India, among the top five countries with high burdens of tuberculosis (TB). Heilongjiang Province is located in northeastern China. The prevalence of drug-resistant TB in Heilongjiang Province is higher than the average level in China. To determine the transmission characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in this area and their genetic relationships, especially among the Beijing family strains, we investigated their genotypes. From May 2007 to October 2008, 200 M. tuberculosis isolates from patients presenting pulmonary TB were analyzed by molecular typing using PCR-based methods: spacer-oligonucleotide typing (spoligotyping), Beijing family-specific PCR (detection of the deletion of region of difference 105 [RD105]), and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit-variable-number tandem-repeat (MIRU-VNTR) analysis. Different combinations of MIRU-VNTR loci were evaluated to define the genotypes and clustering characteristics of the local strains. We found that Beijing family strains represented 89.5% of the isolates studied. However, the rates of multidrug-resistant (MDR) M. tuberculosis among Beijing and non-Beijing family strains were not statistically different. The 15-locus set is considered the optimal MIRU-VNTR locus combination for analyzing the M. tuberculosis strains epidemic in this area, while the 10-locus set is an ideal set for first-line molecular typing. We found that the clustering rate of all the M. tuberculosis isolates analyzed was 10.0% using the 15-locus set typing. We conclude that the Beijing family genotype is predominant and that highly epidemic TB and MDR TB are less likely associated with the active transmission of M. tuberculosis in the study area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Infection and Immunity, Key Lab of Heilongjiang Province, Heilongjiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chun-Lei
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bin-Ying
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Liu-Zhuo
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong-Zhen
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Shui-Lian
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Chie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Chang-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yuan-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Geng-Wen
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ling
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents