Impact of genotypic studies on mycobacterial taxonomy: the new mycobacteria of the 1990s.

ABSTRACT: The advancement of genetic techniques has greatly boosted taxonomic studies in recent years. Within the genus Mycobacterium, 42 new species have been detected since 1990, most of which were grown from clinical samples. Along with species for which relatively large numbers of strains have been reported, some of the new species of mycobacteria have been detected rarely or even only once. From the phenotypic point of view, among the new taxa, chromogens exceed nonchromogens while the numbers of slowly and rapidly growing species are equivalent. Whereas conventional identification tests were usually inconclusive, an important role was played by lipid analyses and in particular by high-performance liquid chromatography. Genotypic investigations based on sequencing of 16S rRNA gene have certainl

SUBMITTER: Tortoli E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC153139 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature