Genetic structure and diversity ofbased on a MLVA typing scheme.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several epidemiological studies have been carried out using Multiple-Locus Variable-number tandem repeat Analysis (MLVA) fortyping. However, a global perspective on the implications of the genetic diversity of this pathogen is lacking. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine and to analyze the genetic structure ofbased on theR1-R3 MLVA typing scheme and to characterize, analyze and compare MLVA types among countries where the information was publicly available. METHODS: A set of 797 publicly available data ofR1-R3 MLVA genetic types from six different countries were analyzed using Genalex 6.41 software to characterize loci polymorphism and using Structure 2.3.4 software in order to identify the genetic structure. RESULTS: A total of 185 MLVA types were identified among the analyzed data. For theR1 andR3 loci, most of the molecular variation inpopulations was identified within countries. Three genetic clusters and their recombinations were identified globally. CONCLUSION: is a genetically diverse pathogen with limited clonality and three well-defined clusters and their combinations were identified in this investigation. The greatest genetic variation ofwas observed within countries.