Isolation of DNA from Mycobacterium tubercolosis.

Research into and identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can take on a number of facets, many of which involve the use of DNA at one stage or another. The quality and quantity of DNA required will depend on the end-use requirement. For example, good yields of pure, high-molecular-weight DNA uncontaminated by DNA from other sources (i.e., homogeneous) are optimal for the generation of cosmid libraries and sequencing (1), Southern hybridization (2-6), or microarray analysis (7) for genome studies, whereas relatively crude DNA (fragmented DNA or DNA from multiple sources [i.e., heterogeneous]) may be adequate for PCR-based diagnosis (8-12) or amplification of regions of the genome for other purposes, e.g., identification of mutations conferring drug resistance (13,14).