Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent of tularemia, is found throughout the Northern hemisphere. After analyzing the F. tularensis genomic sequence for potential variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs), we developed a multilocus VNTR analysis (MLVA) typing system for this pathogen. Variation was detected at six VNTR loci in a set of 56 isolates from California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Ore...

BACKGROUND Bovine tuberculosis has led to serious economic losses for Sika Deer producers in China. Strategies for controlling the spread of Mycobacterium bovis are often hampered by a lack of epidemiological data. Specifically, tracing infections requires the ability to trace back infections, which, in turn, requires the ability to determine isolates with a common source. This study was planne...

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) Beijing strain is highly virulent, drug resistant, and endemic over Asia. To explore the genetic diversity of this family in several different regions of eastern Asia, 338 Beijing strains collected in Taiwan (Republic of China) were analyzed by mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing and compared with publi...

BACKGROUND After 15 years of absence, in 2013 bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium (M.) bovis and M. caprae, reemerged in the Swiss dairy cattle population. In order to identify the sources of infection as well as the spread of the agents, molecular-epidemiologic tracing by MIRU-VNTR analysis in combination with spoligotyping was performed. A total of 17 M. bovis and 7 M. caprae i...

The variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) of thymidylate synthase (TS) gene, mainly 2 repeat (2R) and 3 repeat (3R), is one of the genetic variations that can potentially predict the effectiveness of 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy. In this study we identified an additional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the VNTR of TS, followed by functional and clinical analysis of the SNP. Two-h...

AIM The paper focuses on candidate gene polymorphism and on the role of dopamine transporter gene polymorphism DAT 1 in the pathogenesis of alcoholism. We investigated this polymorphism in the association study in a whole group of alcoholics (n = 150), fathers (n = 84) and mothers (n = 101) and patients with alcohol dependence (n = 103). The control group consisted of healthy volunteers with ex...

Introduction: Some segments of the human genome exhibit polymorphism due to a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR). The enzymatic amplification of VNTR loci can allow for rapid analysis and discrimination of closely sized alleles. We report a PCR-based method for analysis of the highly polymorphic Stl4 VNTR. Source and Description: The Stl4-1 probe is a 3 kb EcoRI fragment cloned from human...

Five Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were obtained from three body sites from a Dutch patient. The isolates displayed a single genotype by 24-locus MIRU-VNTR typing (except for a single locus not amplified from one isolate) but were differentiated by small variations in IS6110 fingerprints, spoligotypes, 6 hypervariable MIRU-VNTR loci, and/or DiversiLab profiles, revealing patterns of micro...

Abstract Background Pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokine imbalance in cerebrospinal fluid or plasma of schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) patients has been documented over the last decade. We aim to examine interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) IL-4 variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms SCZ BD by comparing them with healthy controls. Methods Two hundred thirt...