Mycobacterium bovis-specific 500 bp dna fragment is also present in the genome of mycobacterium tuberculosis: a growing evidence

Shah, D.H.; Singh, Sandeep Kumar and Verma, Rishendra (2004) Mycobacterium bovis-specific 500 bp dna fragment is also present in the genome of mycobacterium tuberculosis: a growing evidence. In: 11th International Conference of the Association of Institutions of Tropical Veterinary Medicine & 16th Veterinary Association of Malaysia congress, 23-27 August 3004, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

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Abstract

The 500 bp DNA fragment was initially reported to be lacking in classical M. tuberculosis strains, while being specific to classical M. bovis strains. We applied multiplex-PCR (m-PCR) assay based on differential amplification of M. tuberculosis-specific pncA gene sequence (nucleotide C at position 169) and M. bovis-specific 500 bp fragment on 15 sputum samples collected from human patients of pulmonary tuberculosis. When subjected to microscopic examination, all (100%) samples scored smear positive for presence of acid fast bacilli (AFB). PCR analysis revealed amplification of the M. tuberculosis-specific 185 bp pncA product, suggesting that the causative agent in these cases was classical M. tuberculosis. However, 13 (86.6%) samples also amplified 500 bp fragment along with the 185 bp pncA product. This study contribute to the growing body of evidence that so-called M. bovis-specific 500 bp fragment is also present in the genome of classical M. tuberculosis strains. The m-PCR assay however, can be successfully applied for the unambiguous species-specific detection and differentiation of M. tuberculosis and M. bovis directly from clinical samples.

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