Rapid, simple method for typing isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by using the polymerase chain reaction.

To develop a molecular typing method for Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on the polymerase chain reaction, oligonucleotide primers were designed to the ends of the insertion sequence IS6110 in an attempt to amplify DNA between clusters of this element on the genome. Although in many strains the copy number of this element is low and is distributed throughout the genome, most strains examined produced a banding pattern which varied between isolates including strains with one copy of IS6110. With strains isolated from patients in epidemiologic clusters of tuberculosis, the banding patterns were similar within each cluster but distinct from those in strains from different clusters. Similarly, multiple isolates from the same patient yielded a consistent banding pattern. Sequencing of four polymerase chain reaction products revealed that amplification was occurring between copies of IS6110 in two of the products and from a single copy of IS6110 to a nonspecific priming site in the other two. This technique provides a rapid and simple means of typing M. tuberculosis isolates for epidemiologic studies.