Microevolution of the direct repeat region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: implications for interpretation of spoligotyping data.

ABSTRACT: The direct repeat (DR) region has been determined to be an important chromosomal domain for studying the evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite this, very little is known about microevolutionary events associated with clonal expansion and how such events influence the interpretation of both restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and spoligotype data. This study examined the structure of the DR region in three independently evolving lineages of M. tuberculosis with a combination of DR-RFLP, spoligotyping, and partial DNA sequencing. The results show that the duplication of direct variable repeat (DVR) sequences and single-nucleotide polymorphisms is rare; conversely, the deletion of DVR sequences and IS6110-mediated mutation is observed frequently. Deletion of either sing

SUBMITTER: Warren RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC154636 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature