Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:645802. Epub 2014 Jan 5.
Current Methods in the Molecular Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Other Mycobacteria.
Author information
- 1Department of Applied Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Ilii Miecznikowa 1, 02-096 Warsaw, Poland.
- 2Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- 3WHO Supranational TB Reference Laboratory, TB and Mycobacteria Unit, Institut Pasteur de Guadeloupe, BP 484, 97183 Abymes Cedex, France.
- 4Mycobacterium Genetics and Physiology Unit, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodowa 106, 93-232 Łódź, Poland.
- 5Department of Genetics, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA 94305-5120, USA.
Abstract
In
the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) and nontuberculous mycobacterial
(NTM) diseases, as in all infectious diseases, the key issue is to
define the source of infection and to disclose its routes of
transmission and dissemination in the environment. For this to be
accomplished, the ability of discerning and tracking individual Mycobacterium
strains is of critical importance. Molecular typing methods have
greatly improved our understanding of the biology of mycobacteria and
provide powerful tools to combat the diseases caused by these pathogens. The utility of various typing methods depends on the Mycobacterium
species under investigation as well as on the research question. For
tuberculosis, different methods have different roles in phylogenetic
analyses and person-to-person transmission studies. In NTM diseases,
most investigations involve the search for environmental sources or
phylogenetic relationships. Here, too, the type of setting determines
which methodology is most suitable. Within this review, we summarize
currently available molecular methods for strain typing of M. tuberculosis
and some NTM species, most commonly associated with human disease. For
the various methods, technical practicalities as well as discriminatory
power and accomplishments are reviewed.
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