ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the discriminatory efficiency of multiple loci of variable numbers of tandem repeats (VNTR) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome.Genotyping and identification on Chinese M.tuberculosis clinical strains were used to locate a series of high discriminated loci,so as to provide the basis for creating a standardized multiple loci VNTR analysis (MLVA) to distribute fast typing and identification on Chinese M.tuberculosis.Methods VNTR loci which were chosen from the website http://minisatellites.u-psud.fr/ and referenced to the genome sequence of M.tuberculosis standard strain H37Rv were tested in Chinese M.tuberculosis clinical strains and H37Rv by means of PCR.The primers were designed by DNAStar software.The repeat member of VNTR unit was estimated by the result of PCR.The discrimination power of single locus or multiple loci was confirmed by the Hunter-Gaston index.Results 45 VNTR loci were tested in 135 Chinese M.tuberculosis clinical strains and H37Rv.The discrimination power of these loci appeared different from each other,with the biggest Hunter-Gaston index as 0.814 (0.797-0.830),the smallest one as 0.015 (0.001-0.028),and there were 13 loci with which the Hunter-Gaston index was bigger than 0.5.Results showed that the discrimination power was increasing by different loci that associated with each other.The more loci that were combined,the bigger the Hunter-Gaston index was,For example,the Hunter-Gaston index of Qub11-b associated with Qub 18 was 0.936,by which 136 strains could be divided into 44 groups.With the combination of 9 loci including Qub11-b,Qub18,Mtub21,Rv2372,MIRU26,Qub26,Qub4156c,Qub11-a and Qub15,the HunterGaston index could have reached 1 and by which the 136 strains could be divided into 136 groups,also showing that the biggest discrimination power to strain identification,viz.strain level genotype were reached.Conclusion The discrimination power of different locus was different.The discrimination power of multiple loci was much more satisfied than that of single locus.It was satisfied the combine discrimination power of 9 loci including Qubll-b,Qubl8,Mtub21,Rv2372,MIRU26,Qub26,Qub4156c,Qub11-a and Qubl5,by which the qualified typing method could gain to facilitate research on molecular epidemiology with the Hunter-Gaston index analysis.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the application of different variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) locus in genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tuberculosis) strains isolated from eight provinces in China, and to find the suitable locus-set of VNTR for epidemical strains in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All 140 M.tuberculosis strains were randomly selected from 2800 M.tuberculosis strains isolated from eight provinces in China, 27 VNTR loci were used for typing all isolates. Discriminatory power (Hunter-Gaston Index, HGI) of every locus and different locus-set were analyzed by BioNumerics software. Meanwhile, Spoligotyping was used to identify Beijing family and non-Beijing family. Then the HGI of different locus-sets in two families was also evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All 140 isolates were clustered into Beijing kindred (112 strains, 80%) and non-Beijing kindred (28 strains, 20%) by Spoligotyping. The discriminatory power of Spoligotyping in 140 isolates was 0.4589. Every locus showed different polymorphism and HGI were from 0 to 0.809. The number of VNTR loci with HGI higher than 0.5 in all strains, Beijing family and non-Beijing family was 8, 7 and 14 respectively. 27 loci were combined into four groups which included 8, 12, 15 and 24 VNTR loci respectively. Four locus-sets showed different polymorphism, HGI of eight-locus, 12-locus, 15-locus, and 24-locus set in 140 strains was 0.9991, 0.9882, 0.9980 and 0.9986, and their discriminatory power were calculated in Beijing kindred (HGI: 0.9987, 0.9318, 0.9969 and 0.9975) and non-Beijing kindred (HGI: 1, 0.9894, 1 and 1).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Different VNTR locus and locus-set showed different discriminatory power in the selected M.tuberculosis strains isolated from China. Eight-locus set can be used in molecular epidemiological study of M.tuberculosis in China after standardization.</p>