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Updated: Mar 20, 2026

A Microscopic Phenotypic Assay for the Quantification of Intracellular Mycobacteria Adapted for High-throughput/High-content Screening
Published on: January 17, 2014
Subtle genotypic changes can be observed soon after diagnosis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection
Laura Pérez-Lago1, Ana Isabel Rodríguez Borlado2, Iñaki Comas3
1Servicio de Microbiología Clínica y Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades respiratorias, CIBERES, Spain.
Abstract:
Clonal variants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) coexist in specific patients, although the dynamics of their emergence is unknown. We used MIRU-VNTR to detect microevolution leading to variants of MTB in 3 out of 19 patients (15%) soon after diagnosis (61-85days). Most harbored SNPs and for some of them a potential functional role was suggested. Microevolution in tuberculosis seems to occur sooner and more often than expected and could affect tracking of transmission.
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