title: Discriminatory potential of a novel set of Variable Number of Tandem Repeats for genotyping Mycobacterium marinum.
abstract: Mycobacterium marinum is a free-living bacterium that infects fish and amphibians, but is also an opportunistic pathogen in humans. Although in previous studies, the bacterium has shown a small number of Variable Number of Tandem Repeat (VNTR) polymorphic loci, the discriminatory power of the known VNTR loci is unlikely to be sufficient to distinguish such a globally ubiquitous waterborne microorganism, which has a presumably high genetic variance. The object of this study was to test M. marinum isolates from east China for strain diversity using previously described loci as well as novel VNTR loci, and to identify more discriminating VNTR loci that could enrich the genotyping tools for M. marinum. We found that 7 of the 12 tested VNTR loci, of which 5 were known loci and 2 loci were newly identified, showed good discriminatory power for the 14 M. marinum clinical isolates (Hunter-Gaston Index [HGI] value=0.990). The pathogenicity of isolates representing different VNTR clusters was also studied in a zebrafish (Danio rerio) infection model; in this model, 6 isolates representing 4 VNTR clusters induced chronic infections, whereas the American strain ATCC BAA-535 caused acute and lethal infections.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences and Institute of Medical Microbiology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.forename: Xueyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002681:China; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D019910:Mycobacterium marinum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S