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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

DNA Fingerprinting of Mycobacterium leprae Strains Using Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) - Fragment Length Analysis (FLA)
Published on: July 15, 2011
Prospective use of molecular typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by use of restriction fragment-length polymorphism
Samuel J McConkey1, Michael Williams, Don Weiss
1Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Abstract:
We performed a prospective, community-based evaluation of molecular typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates as a method for tuberculosis (TB) control. We performed restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the insertion sequences IS6110 and pTBN12 for isolates recovered from 61 of 62 patients with culture-positive TB in St. Louis during 12 months. Twenty-four (39%) of the 61 patients were infected with an isolate with an RFLP pattern that was shared with >/=1 other isolate, and 11 (46%) also had epidemiologic links with patients in their cluster of cases. One case each of laboratory cross-contamination and occupational transmission were discovered. The patients in clusters were more likely to be younger, black, United States-born, to have substance abuse problems, and to live in poorer areas. A predictive algorithm for molecular identification of clusters had a sensitivity and a specificity of 75%. This study allowed the TB-control program in St. Louis to be redirected toward the affected subpopulations.
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