GENETIC IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-BOVIS BCG BY RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECT-REPEAT REGION

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was performed on the direct repeat (DR) regions of 14 strains of Mycobacterium bovi s BCG. With AluI digested DNA, BCG Japanese, Russian, and Mexican had differing RFLP patterns but II strains, including Pasteur, Glare, and Tice, had an identical pattern not detected in over 60 other strains o f the M. tuberculosis complex. DR analysis can aid in confirming the i dentification of clinical BCG isolates.