A sample of 260 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains assigned to the Euro-American family was studied to identify phylogenetically informative genomic regions of difference (RD). Mutually exclusive deletions of regions RD115, RD122, RD174, RD182, RD183, RD193, RD219, RD726 and RD761 were found in 202 strains; the RD(Rio) deletion was detected exclusively among the RD174-deleted strains. Although ...

We conducted a molecular epidemiology study on 120 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients presenting pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in Burkina Faso. Classical antibiogram studies and genetic characterization, using mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit-variable-number tandem-repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing and spoligotyping, were applied after culture. Molecular analysis of specific sign...

This study shows the benefit of spoligotyping coupled to mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit (MIRU) typing to pinpoint circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana. We hereby propose reduced 4-locus and 6-locus subsets for LAM and Haarlem lineage strains that predominate in South America and the Caribbean, retaining 99.35% and 99.64% of th...

Contributing Speakers: Sue Berners-Price (Griffith University), Trevor Hambley (The University of Sydney), Margaret Harding (The University of Sydney), V.G. Kumar Das (Universiti Malaysia), Edmunds Lukevics (Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis), Michael Millward (Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute), Valery Petrosyan (Lomonosov University), Lou Rendina (The University of Adelaide), Youn Soo Soh...

Designing newer drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic techniques is dependent on better understanding of M. tuberculosis virulence mechanism. In this study the prevalence of pcaA gene was determined in M. tuberculosis strains typed by spoligotyping. The associated risk factors among patients with different nationalities residing in Iran were also determined. The isolated M. tuberculosis strains have ...

Tuberculosis pathogenesis was earlier thought to be mainly related to the host but now it appears to be clear that bacterial factors are also involved. Genetic variability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) could be slight but it may lead to sharp phenotypic differences. We have previously reported that nonopsonized Mtb H37Rv induce apoptosis of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) by a mechan...