title: Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Algeria: Results of spoligotyping.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Molecular typing tools, including spoligotyping, are currently widely used in the monitoring and study of the dynamics of tuberculosis epidemics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A study of the molecular profile of a sample of 129 Myobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated during 2011 was carried out in the National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria at the Pasteur Institute of Algeria. This sample was selected at random from a set of 350 strains isolated from tuberculosis patients from central and eastern areas of the country.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Genotypic analysis helped to clarify the frequencies of the different genotypes in the current study population: H family, 29%; LAM family, 26%; T family, 25%; S family, 5%, and other genomic families, including orphan strains, 15%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study of strains isolated between January and December 2011 has allowed insight into the frequency of different genomic families and the importance of existing clusters in the population of central and eastern Algeria.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis (NRL-TB), Pasteur Institute of Algeria, Algiers, Algeria. Electronic address: ifticene.ma@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Malika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ifticene
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics & Physiology, Faculty of Agro-veterinary and Biological Sciences, Saad Dahlab University of Blida, Blida, Algeria.
authors.forename: Saïd
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaïdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics & Physiology, Faculty of Agro-veterinary and Biological Sciences, Saad Dahlab University of Blida, Blida, Algeria.
authors.forename: Mesbah-Mounir
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Khechiba
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis (NRL-TB), Pasteur Institute of Algeria, Algiers, Algeria.
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yala
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis (NRL-TB), Pasteur Institute of Algeria, Algiers, Algeria.
authors.forename: Fadila
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boulahbal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000462:Algeria; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; SPOLDB4; Spoligotyping