Young Saroj K, Taylor G Michael, Jain Suman, Suneetha Lavanya M, Suneetha Sujai, Lockwood Diana N J, Young Douglas B
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Nov;42(11):4931-6. doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.11.4931-4936.2004.
To investigate genetic diversity in a bacterial population, we measured the copy numbers of simple sequence repeats, or microsatellites, in Mycobacterium leprae from patients living in and around Hyderabad, India. Three microsatellite loci containing trinucleotide or dinucleotide repeats were amplified from infected tissues, and the copy numbers were established by sequence analysis. Extensive diversity was observed in a cross-sectional survey of 33 patients, but closely related profiles were found for members of a multicase family likely to share a common transmission source. Sampling of multiple tissues from single individuals demonstrated identical microsatellite profiles in the skin, nasal cavity, and bloodstream but revealed differences at one or more loci for M. leprae present in nerves. Microsatellite mapping of M. leprae represents a useful tool for tracking short transmission chains. Comparison of skin and nerve lesions suggests that the evolution of disease within an individual involves the expansion of multiple distinct subpopulations of M. leprae.
为了研究细菌群体中的遗传多样性，我们测量了印度海得拉巴及其周边地区患者体内麻风分枝杆菌中简单序列重复序列（即微卫星）的拷贝数。从感染组织中扩增出三个含有三核苷酸或二核苷酸重复序列的微卫星位点，并通过序列分析确定拷贝数。在对33名患者的横断面调查中观察到了广泛的多样性，但在一个可能共享共同传播源的多病例家庭的成员中发现了密切相关的图谱。对单个个体的多个组织进行采样显示，皮肤、鼻腔和血液中的微卫星图谱相同，但神经中存在的麻风分枝杆菌在一个或多个位点存在差异。麻风分枝杆菌的微卫星图谱是追踪短传播链的有用工具。皮肤和神经病变的比较表明，个体内疾病的演变涉及麻风分枝杆菌多个不同亚群的扩增。
