The Reproducibility of the Multiplex RAPD-PCR Assay in Genotyping of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Isolates from Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Background: Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay has recently emerged as a genotyping method which is both robust and highly discriminatory for bacterial strain differentiation. However, RAPD assessment for Mycobacterium tuberculosiscomplex (MTC) isolates is still limited. Despite its simplicity and rapidity, conventional RAPD also has low reproducibility due to its sensitivity to several factors. Therefore we studied the feasibility of an RAPD-PCR assay to define the genetic diversity of MTC isolates and to evaluate its reproducibility.Methods:493clinical MTC isolates from the island of Sulawesi in Eastern Indonesia, collected from 2005-2012were subjected to Multiplex RAPD assay using 11 random decamer primers instead of one primer which is common in conventional RAPD. All 11 primers were found to be differentiated and produced specific RAPD profiles. The polymorphic amplicons served as RAPD markers for MTC. The dendrograms, obtained by different primers, showed the discriminatory ability of the primers.Results:Multiplex RAPD-PCR results show that the majority of the isolates from South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi andCentral Sulawesiin eastern region of Indonesia belong to group MT-C (80.7%, 80.0% and 62.6 % respectively) with result reproducibility as high as 100%. Conclusion:Molecular typing with multiplex RAPD-PCR is a powerful approach to show the genetic heterogeneity of MTC isolates. The discrimination power and reproducibility of this multiple loci-based RAPD was higher than conventional fewer loci-targeted RAPD.