title: MIRU-VNTR analysis of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from three provinces of Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Iran borders 2 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries to the east, and has the highest rates of TB in one of its eastern provinces. Limited information is available on the genetic diversity and transmission dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in Iran. To examine the genetic diversity and transmission dynamics of MTB strains we genotyped a collection of isolates from different parts of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Standard 15-locus variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) typing was applied to genotype 121 MTB clinical isolates collected from 3 provinces of Iran, including Tehran (the capital of Iran), Sistan-Baluchestan (southeast province of Iran, with the highest rate of TB), and Kermanshah (western part of Iran with high TB/human immunodeficiency virus cases). Antibiotic susceptibility for all isolates was determined using the proportion method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-six distinct mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit (MIRU)-VNTR patterns were detected among 121 isolates. Seventy-five strains grouped into 20 clusters, and 46 isolates were unique. The genetic diversity of strains from Sistan-Baluchestan was higher than that in the other provinces. All isolates from Tehran or Kermanshah that grouped into clusters shared identical patterns with Sistan-Baluchestan. The Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index (HGDI) was 0.972, indicating a high power of discrimination for MIRU-VNTR typing. The MIRU 16 and ETRA loci were designated as highly discriminative. The rates of monoresistance and multidrug resistance were 9.9% and 2.4%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MIRU-VNTR typing revealed high genetic diversity and suggests the possibility of transmission from Sistan-Baluchestan to other provinces of Iran. This method has potential for genetic analysis and for studying the transmission routes of TB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Samin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamani
authors.forename: Moloud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aflaki
authors.forename: Abbas Ali Imani
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fooladi
authors.forename: Davood
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Darban-Sarokhalil
authors.forename: Zakaria
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bameri
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khazaee
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nasiri
authors.forename: Mohammad Mehdi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Feizabadi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*