THE RIBOSOMAL INTERGENIC SPACER REGION - A TARGET FOR THE PCR BASED DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS

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.