Identification of Mycobacterium avium complex using Multi Locus Sequence Analysis

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) are ubiquitous in the environment which are the cause of disease in animals, birds and patients with immunodeficiency and healthy individual. The purpose of this study was to apply the multi-location sequencing method (MLSA) to identify mycobacterium avium complex.
In this study, the sequences of 16S rRNA, rpoB and hsp65 genes were collected from the GenBank for 8 subtypes of Mycobacterium avium complex. Then these sequences were aligned using clustalW2 software, and based on these genes, phylogenetic trees were constructed. Finally, using CLC Main benchwork software combined the sequence for each sub-species, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed with a neighbor-joining technique.
The results of the MLSA method were better than the separate study of 16S rRNA, rpoB, and hsp65 genes.
The MLSA method is a useful tool for identifying and differentiating Mycobacterium avium complex subtypes.