Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.

Culture of Mycobacterium ulcerans from Buruli ulcer patients has very low sensitivity. Thus confirmation of M. ulcerans infection is primarily based on PCR directed against IS2404. In this study we compare the genotypes obtained by variable number of tandem repeat analysis of DNA from IS2404-PCR pos...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Heather Williamson, Richard Phillips, Stephen Sarfo, Mark Wansbrough-Jones, Pamela Small
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088007
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849332351730974720
author Heather Williamson
Richard Phillips
Stephen Sarfo
Mark Wansbrough-Jones
Pamela Small
author_facet Heather Williamson
Richard Phillips
Stephen Sarfo
Mark Wansbrough-Jones
Pamela Small
author_sort Heather Williamson
collection DOAJ
description Culture of Mycobacterium ulcerans from Buruli ulcer patients has very low sensitivity. Thus confirmation of M. ulcerans infection is primarily based on PCR directed against IS2404. In this study we compare the genotypes obtained by variable number of tandem repeat analysis of DNA from IS2404-PCR positive cultures with that obtained from IS2404 positive, culture-negative tissue. A significantly greater genetic heterogeneity was found among culture-negative samples compared with that found in cultured strains but a single genotype is over-represented in both sample sets. This study provides evidence that both the focal location of bacteria in a lesion as well as differences in the ability to culture a particular genotype may underlie the low sensitivity of culture. Though preliminary, data from this work also suggests that mycobacteria previously associated with fish disease (M. pseudoshottsii) may be pathogenic for humans.
format Article
id doaj-art-1794da31b08b49d6b84ce61948a9cec8
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-1794da31b08b49d6b84ce61948a9cec82025-08-20T03:46:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0192e8800710.1371/journal.pone.0088007Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.Heather WilliamsonRichard PhillipsStephen SarfoMark Wansbrough-JonesPamela SmallCulture of Mycobacterium ulcerans from Buruli ulcer patients has very low sensitivity. Thus confirmation of M. ulcerans infection is primarily based on PCR directed against IS2404. In this study we compare the genotypes obtained by variable number of tandem repeat analysis of DNA from IS2404-PCR positive cultures with that obtained from IS2404 positive, culture-negative tissue. A significantly greater genetic heterogeneity was found among culture-negative samples compared with that found in cultured strains but a single genotype is over-represented in both sample sets. This study provides evidence that both the focal location of bacteria in a lesion as well as differences in the ability to culture a particular genotype may underlie the low sensitivity of culture. Though preliminary, data from this work also suggests that mycobacteria previously associated with fish disease (M. pseudoshottsii) may be pathogenic for humans.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088007
spellingShingle Heather Williamson
Richard Phillips
Stephen Sarfo
Mark Wansbrough-Jones
Pamela Small
Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
PLoS ONE
title Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
title_full Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
title_fullStr Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
title_full_unstemmed Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
title_short Genetic diversity of PCR-positive, culture-negative and culture-positive Mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from Buruli ulcer patients in Ghana.
title_sort genetic diversity of pcr positive culture negative and culture positive mycobacterium ulcerans isolated from buruli ulcer patients in ghana
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088007
work_keys_str_mv AT heatherwilliamson geneticdiversityofpcrpositiveculturenegativeandculturepositivemycobacteriumulceransisolatedfromburuliulcerpatientsinghana
AT richardphillips geneticdiversityofpcrpositiveculturenegativeandculturepositivemycobacteriumulceransisolatedfromburuliulcerpatientsinghana
AT stephensarfo geneticdiversityofpcrpositiveculturenegativeandculturepositivemycobacteriumulceransisolatedfromburuliulcerpatientsinghana
AT markwansbroughjones geneticdiversityofpcrpositiveculturenegativeandculturepositivemycobacteriumulceransisolatedfromburuliulcerpatientsinghana
AT pamelasmall geneticdiversityofpcrpositiveculturenegativeandculturepositivemycobacteriumulceransisolatedfromburuliulcerpatientsinghana