Intra- and interpatient variability of the hsp65 and 16S-23S intergenic gene region in Mycobacterium abscessus strains from patients with cystic fibrosis.

To establish the exact pathogenic role of Mycobacterium abscessus in cystic fibrosis (CF), molecular tests are required for accurate identification. Forty-eight M. abscessus isolates from seven patients with CF were analyzed by sequence analysis for sequence variants within the hsp65 gene and the 16S-23S intergenic sequence (ITS). We detected two different hsp65 genes and correspondingly two ITS sequevars belonging to M. abscessus type I and type II.