@ARTICLE{Feizabadi, author = {Feizabadi, Mohammad and Bahrmand, AhmadReza and Heidarieh, Parvin and Shojaee, Hossein and }, title = {Using of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis to study the heterogenicity of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium kansasii}, volume = {1}, number = {4}, abstract ={Background and Objectives: Multi locus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE)has been proved to be a powerful technique in population genetic studies and molecular epidemiology of pathogenic micro-organisms. In this study MEE was used to determine the genetic relationships of M. kansasii strains cultured from patients at Pasteur Institute of Iran. Material and Methods: 21 isolates of M. kansasii (9 isolates from Iran and 12 isolates from other countries) were analyzed for 12 enzymes loci by MEE. Isolate swere grown on LJ slants and BACTEC 13A. The cells were sedimented by centrifugation and their lysates containing the enzymes were extracted by sonication. The horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was used for visualization of enzymes after staining the gels with substrate in solutions or agar overlay. Results: A considerable genetic diversity was found at different loci of M. kansasii suggesting the existence of different sub-species for this organism. It also showed the inaccuracy of some biochemical test for identification of some isolates with in this species. Conclusion: Iranian isolates of M. kansasii are genetically diverse. Separation of isolates at high genetic distances in this study suggest the possible existence ofundetected isolates that could fill the gaps between the unrelated isolates. }, URL = {http://ijmm.ir/article-1-96-en.html}, eprint = {http://ijmm.ir/article-1-96-en.pdf}, journal = {Iranian Journal of Medical Microbiology}, doi = {}, year = {2008} }