M. Glennon et al., THE RIBOSOMAL INTERGENIC SPACER REGION - A TARGET FOR THE PCR BASED DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS, Tubercle and lung disease, 75(5), 1994, pp. 353-360
Setting: DNA Diagnostics, The National Diagnostics Centre and Universi
ty College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland. Objective: To invest
igate the possibility of developing a DNA probe to distinguish the mem
bers of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and develop an assay fo
r the detection of M. tuberculosis in sputum. Design: The ribosomal in
tergenic spacer regions from the members of the M. tuberculosis comple
x were sequenced and analysed for the ability of this region to provid
e sequence diversity for DNA probe development. Results: The 100% sequ
ence homology in this region precluded the development of a probe to d
istinguish the individual members of the M. tuberculosis complex. Howe
ver it was possible to develop a DNA probe that could specifically det
ect only the members of the M. tuberculosis complex. Conclusion: A spe
cific DNA probe was developed for the detection of the M. tuberculosis
complex and its application to M. tuberculosis detection in sputum wa
s demonstrated.