title: Comparison of three molecular typing methods to assess genetic diversity for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: This study describes the comparison of three methods for genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, namely MIRU-VNTR (mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats), spoligotyping and, for the first time, MLST (Multilocus Sequence Typing). In order to evaluate the discriminatory power of these methods, a total of 44 M. tuberculosis isolates obtained from sputum specimens of patients from Brazil were genotyped. Among the three methods, MLST showed the lowest discriminatory power compared to the other two techniques. MIRU-VNTR showed better discriminatory power when compared to spoligotyping, however, the combination of both methods provides the greatest level of discrimination and therefore this combination is the most useful genotyping tool to be applied to M. tuberculosis isolates.
authors: Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. andre@pitondo.com.br
authors: André
authors: A
authors: Pitondo-Silva
authors: Adolfo Carlos Barreto
authors: AC
authors: Santos
authors: Keith A
authors: KA
authors: Jolley
authors: Clarice Queico Fujimura
authors: CQ
authors: Leite
authors: Ana Lúcia da Costa
authors: AL
authors: Darini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology / Q000379:methods; D058889:Molecular Typing / Q000379:methods*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000382:microbiology; D055815:Young Adult