Identification for Mycobacterium leprae from patients in Vietnam with molecular biology method

ABSTRACT

Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing, 492 nucleotides of pra gene was obtained from clinical swabs of the Vietnamese patients for comparative analysis with the corresponding sequences of the global strains of Mecobacterium leprae. As entry data for searching in Genbank, the Vietnamese strains of M.leprae showed very high homology level to the other global strains. In comparision to the standard TN strain, absolute homology (100%) for QH1 (designated as MLVN1) and 98-99% homology for QH2 strain (designated as MLVN2) of the Vietnamese M. leprae was observrd. There may be a number of variants among the M. leprae population in Vietnam. For final conclusion, thus, investigation must be done for many other isolates of patients and geographic origins. This is the first molecular-based identification for M. leprae in Vietnam. Our results afford establishing diagnostic and identification methodologies/techniques for M. leprae from clinical swabs from patients in Vietnam