title: Pros and cons of direct genotyping on tuberculosis clinical samples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prompt genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is crucial for improving molecular epidemiological investigation of tuberculosis (TB).
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the use of 24 loci MIRU-VNTR (mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem-repeat) directly on 135 clinical samples from 84 TB patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a direct correlation between genotyping on clinical samples by MIRU-VNTR and bacterial load (P = 0.001). VNTR loci were amplified successfully for 41.5% of the clinical samples (19-24 loci), 32.6% (13-18 loci), 23.7% (7-12 loci) and 2.2% (1-6 loci). Loci of 2401, 577, 2996 and 154 had the highest power to show the mixed strains infection in clinical samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Direct MIRU-VNTR is partially successful in complete genotyping of M. tuberculosis strains. On the other hand, detection of polyclonal infection is undoubtedly reliable based on the direct MIRU-VNTR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sadegh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kargarpour Kamakoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ghazaleh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Farmanfarmaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masoumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abdolrahimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Microbiology Research Center (MRC), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abolfazl
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fateh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nayereh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ebrahimzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Microbiology Research Center (MRC), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rahimi Jamnani
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Microbiology Research Center (MRC), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: farzam_vaziri@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farzam
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vaziri
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycobacteriology and Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Microbiology Research Center (MRC), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Davar
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Siadat
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D060005:Genotyping Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: 24 loci MIRU-VNTR; Mixed infections; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Prompt genotyping