Rapid identification of mycobacteria to species level by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the hsp65 gene and proposition of an algorithm to differentiate 34 mycobacterial species.

PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PRA) of the hsp65 gene (A. Telenti, F. Marchesi, M. Balz, F. Bally, E. C. Böttger, and T. Bodmer, J. Clin. Microbiol. 31:175-178, 1993) was applied to 108 mycobacterial isolates representing 34 species to evaluate its potential as a rapid reference method. A total of 49 distinct patterns were obtained; 25 species were characterized by a single PRA pattern, while 9 species gave more than one specific pattern. An algorithm describing these 34 species (which includes five additional species and new subgroups of Mycobacterium kansasii, M. abscessus, and M. peregrinum) is proposed. A relatively simple and inexpensive method, PRA may be particularly helpful in routine clinical microbiology laboratories.