Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 65 (4), 341-344, 2012

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Yuhki Nagai¹*, Yoshito Iwade¹, Eri Hayakawa², Manabu Nakano², Takashi Sakai², Masamichi Tanuma³, Masahiko Katayama¹, Tetsuya Nosaka⁴, and Tetsuo Yamaguchi¹

¹Mie Prefecture Health and Environment Research Institute, Mie 512-1211; ²National Hospital Organization Mie-Chuo Medical Center, Mie 514-1101; ³⁴Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie 514-8507, Japan

(Received March 14, 2012. Accepted May 21, 2012)

*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Mie Prefecture Heath and Environment Research Institute, 3684-11 Sakura, Yokkaichi City, Mie 512-1211, Japan. Tel & Fax: +81-59-329-2923, Email: このメールアドレスはスパムボットから保護されています。閲覧するにはJavaScriptを有効にする必要があります。

SUMMARY: The variable numbers of tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis is a method frequently employed as a molecular epidemiological tool for Mycobacterium tuberculosis genetic fingerprinting. In this study, we characterized the population of M. tuberculosis circulating in Mie Prefecture, Japan, and assessed the utility of the proposed JATA12- and 15-VNTR analyses of 158 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates using 25 VNTR loci. The results revealed that the ancient Beijing sublineage is the most prevalent M. tuberculosis strain in Mie Prefecture, accounting for 85.0% of 113 Beijing lineage isolates. Our results also showed that JATA-VNTR using well-selected loci is as reliable as standardized 15-locus MIRU-VNTR. Furthermore, JATA15-VNTR analysis reliably improved the discriminatory power compared with basic JATA12-VNTR analysis. In summary, our data suggest that JATA-VNTR is a useful tool for discrimination of M. tuberculosis in areas where ancient Beijing strains are frequently isolated.