Chemistry and Physics Faculty Articles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2013

Publication Title

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

ISSN

0099-2240

Volume

79

Issue/No.

18

First Page

5601

Last Page

5607

Abstract

Our understanding of the sources of Mycobacterium avium infection is partially based on genotypic matching of pathogen isolates from cases and environmental sources. These approaches assume that genotypic identity is rare in isolates from unlinked cases or sources. To test this assumption, a high-resolution PCR-based genotyping approach, large-sequence polymorphism (LSP)-mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable-number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR), was selected and used to analyze clinical and environmental isolates of M. avium from geographically diverse sources. Among 127 clinical isolates from seven locations in North America, South America, and Europe, 42 genotypes were observed. Among 12 of these genotypes, matches were seen in isolates from apparently unlinked patients in two or more geographic locations. Six of the 12 were also observed in environmental isolates. A subset of these isolates was further analyzed by alternative strain genotyping methods, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and MIRU-VNTR, which confirmed the existence of geographically dispersed strain genotypes. These results suggest that caution should be exercised in interpreting high-resolution genotypic matches as evidence for an acquisition event.

Comments

©2013, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Additional Comments

STAR Research Assistance Agreement #: FP-91695601; EPA Collaborative Agreement #: 833030010; Medical Scientist Training Program award #: T 32 GM07266

DOI

10.1128/AEM.01443-13

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