The use of molecular biological methods for the individual characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains

The expediency of using molecular biological methods for the evaluation of M. tuberculosis clinical strains by individual genetic certification of circulating M. tuberculosis strains has been substantiated. Considerable genetic heterogeneity of M. tuberculosis strains isolated from patients in different regions of the Russian Federation has been established; this heterogeneity is due to the presence of differences in the number of copies (5-26) of element IS6110 in M. tuberculosis cells.