[Evaluation of INNO-LiPA mycobacteria, INNO-LiPA Mycobacteria v2 and hsp65 sequencing for identification of the clinical nontuberculous mycobacterial isolates].

: In this study, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reverse hybridization based line probe assays, INNO-LiPA Mycobacteria and INNO-LiPA Mycobacteria v2 (Innogenetics, Ghent, Belgium) and partial sequencing of hsp65 gene were evaluated for the identification of 29 clinical mycobacterial isolates. Unique hsp65 sequences identified during the study were deposited in EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) under accession numbers AY379074, AY379077, AY379075 and AY553874. All mycobacterial isolates were identified at the genus level on both LiPA assays, whereas 8 of 9 different known mycobacteria species (M. kansasii, M. gordonae, M. avium, M. intracellulare, M. chelonae, M. abscessus, M. fortuitum and M. peregrinum) were identified at species level with LiPA Mycobacteria v2. A clear correlation was found between the results of identifications obtained by the both LiPA assays, which targeted the 16S-23S rRNA ITS region, and DNA sequencing, which targeted the hsp65 gene. In conclusion, although LiPA Mycobacteria v2 could not identify all mycobacteria species, it may be especially useful for routine work in clinical laboratories, which are not capable of carrying out DNA sequencing.