Genetic Diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Inner Mongolia, China

Qin Yu,Li Wan,Yimou Wu,Bing Lu,Haiyan Dong,Yunkai Su,Yan Ma,Lulu Lian,Xiuqin Zhao,Yao Liu,Xiaomin Yang,Kanglin Wan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057660

Abstract

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem in China, and within China, Inner Mongolia has a high prevalence area of TB. Though studies on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been reported in many provinces, there are no such studies to date in Inner Mongolia. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity of MTB in Inner Mongolia.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study, we analyzed 372 clinical MTB isolates with 22-loci mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit and variable-number tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR), spoligotyping, large sequence polymorphism (LSP), and NTF region analysis to understand the TB genotypes prevalent in Inner Mongolia. We found that the Beijing family was the most prevalent genotype (85.48%, 318/372), and the “modern” sublineage accounted for 76.73% (244/318) of the isolates. Our data also showed that there was no statistically significant association between the two major nationalities and the Beijing genotype (χ2 = 3.612, P = 0.057; P>0.05).Conclusion/SignificanceThe Beijing genotype is the most prevalent family of M. tuberculosis in Inner Mongolia, and we do not find any correlation between the Beijing genotype and the major nationalities.

Highlights

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem that has threatened the health of human beings worldwide, especially in developing countries
The results of this study show that the Beijing family is the most prevalent lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains in Inner Mongolia
There are no previous reports of MTB genotyping in Inner Mongolia, these results are consistent with those of other papers which demonstrated that the Beijing genotype is the most predominant genotype in China, in regions such as Tianjin (91.7%), Tibet (90.63), Jilin (89.9%), Heilongjiang (89.5%), and Shanghai (89%) [13,14,15,16]

Summary

Introduction

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem that has threatened the health of human beings worldwide, especially in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the ‘‘Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis’’, which aims to save a million lives by 2015 [1], China, the second among the 22 high-burden countries, has different incidences and prevalence of TB in different provinces. Based on the 1990 National TB Epidemiology Survey in China, the prevalence rate of TB in Inner Mongolia was the third, following Tibet and Sichuan, and higher than that in this region in 1979 [2]. Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem in China, and within China, Inner Mongolia has a high prevalence area of TB. Though studies on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been reported in many provinces, there are no such studies to date in Inner Mongolia. We investigated the genetic diversity of MTB in Inner Mongolia

Methods

Results

Conclusion