Variable human minisatellite‐like regions in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome

• Published in: Molecular microbiology Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 762 - 771
• Main Authors: Supply, Philip, Mazars, Edith, Lesjean, Sarah, Vincent, Véronique, Gicquel, Brigitte, Locht, Camille
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.05.2000; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Base Sequence; Chromosome Mapping; Chromosomes, Bacterial - genetics; Consensus Sequence; Genetic Variation; Genome, Bacterial; Humans; Minisatellite Repeats; Molecular Sequence Data; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics
• ISSN: 0950-382X; 1365-2958
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01905.x

Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRUs) are 40–100 bp DNA elements often found as tandem repeats and dispersed in intergenic regions of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex genomes. The M. tuberculosis H37Rv chromosome contains 41 MIRU loci. After polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analyses of these loci in 31 M. tuberculosis complex strains, 12 of them were found to display variations in tandem repeat copy numbers and, in most cases, sequence variations between repeat units as well. These features are reminiscent of those of certain human variable minisatellites. Of the 12 variable loci, only one was found to vary among genealogically distant BCG substrains, suggesting that these interspersed bacterial minisatellite‐like structures evolve slowly in mycobacterial populations.