Genomic diversity among drug sensitive and multidrug resistant isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with identical DNA fingerprints.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is characterized by low sequence diversity making this bacterium one of the classical examples of a genetically monomorphic pathogen. Because of this limited DNA sequence variation, routine genotyping of clinical MTBC isolates for epidemiological purposes relies on highly discriminatory DNA fingerprinting methods based on mobile and repetitive genetic elements. According to the standard view, isolates exhibiting the same fingerprinting pattern are considered direct progeny of the same bacterial clone, and most likely reflect ongoing transmission or disease relapse within individual patients.

Methodology/principal findings

Here we further investigated this assumption and used massi

SUBMITTER: Niemann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2756628 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature