Genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in rural China: Using MIRU-VNTR and spoligotyping methods

AbstractBackground: The genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been found to be related to the risk of transmission and the development of drug resistance of this pathogen. Thus, exploring the molecular characteristics of MTB is helpful for understanding and controlling the spread of strains in areas with a high incidence of tuberculosis. Methods: We recruited 512 sputum smear-positive tuberculosis patients from 30 counties from 1 April to 30 June 2010; 503 MTB strains were isolated and 497 were successfully genotyped. We genotyped the strains based on a new 15-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) method in combination with spacer-oligonucleotide typing (spoligotyping) technology. Results: Based on spoligotyping, 487 strains displayed known patterns, and 10 were absent from the current global spoligotyping database (SpolDB4). The predominant spoligotypes belonged to the Beijing or Beijing-like family (81.1%). When we used the new 15-loc...