Abstract

Objective: To facilitate large network surveillance, we evaluated use of spoligotyping in combination with different formats (12-, 15- and 24- loci) of to Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units (MIRU)-Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR) achieve maximal discriminatory power. Methods: Spoligotyping and 24-loci MIRU-VNTR was performed on 127 consecutive extrapulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) isolates. Results: Based on the analysis of 127 M. tuberculosis isolates, all 3 formats of MIRU-VNTR when coupled with spoligotyping (HGDI: spoligotyping +12-loci, 0.9 967<spoligotyping +15-loci, 0.9 996 <spoligotyping +24-loci, 1.0 000) reported a similar discriminatory power in comparison to MIRU-VNTR alone (HGDI: 12-loci, 0.9 951<15-loci, 0.9 996<24-loci, 1.0 000). Conclusions: Thus, we propose the use of spoligotyping as an initial epidemiological typing tool followed by the minimal subset of MIRU-VNTR typing for CAS, Beijing and EAI predominant lineages in the Mumbai population, retaining 100% discriminatory power comparable to that obtained by 24-loci MIRU-VNTR alone. For long-term surveillance, 24-loci MIRU-VNTR would an ideal typing tool for identification of predominant M. tuberculosis lineages in the Mumbai.

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