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Updated: Jun 20, 2026
DNA Fingerprinting of Mycobacterium leprae Strains Using Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) - Fragment Length Analysis (FLA)
Published on: July 15, 2011
[Genotyping Colombian Mycobacterium leprae for determining disease transmission patterns]
José F Torres-Avila1, Claudia L Colorado, Luís A Gamboa
1Centro Dermatologico Federico Lleras Acosta. fernandot85@gmail.com
Objective:
Assessing VNTR (variable-number tandem repeat) variability of Mycobacterium leprae from Colombian patients with and without prior treatment to identify potential sources of infection and to understand the patterns of disease transmission.
Methodology:
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study where a convenience sample of biopsies was taken from 161 multibacillary leprosy patients; diagnosis and monitoring of the disease had been requested for these patients. DNA was extracted from M. leprae and standardised using the PCR technique for M. leprae VNTR, ge-notypes were established and different clusters grouped by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA).
Results:
22 different VNTR genotypes were found from 161 samples, of which 100 samples (62.1%) had a single u-VNTR genotype and the remaining genotypes were VNTR 17 (5.6%), VNTR 20 (4.3%), VNTR 18 (4.3%), VNTR 14 (4.3%) and VNTR 13 (3.7%), namely those forming groups or clusters.
Conclusion:
This study showed that clones can be detected with varying degrees of virulence / aggressiveness by cluster analysis, implying the need for more monitoring programme activities which will result in a real decline in microorganism transmission.
