Multilocus VNTR-typing of Francisella tularensis strains

In the analysis of F. tularensis genome with the use of the specially developed program "DNA" a great number of loci containing tandem repeats were found. For analysis, 3 of them were selected and designated as FtA, FtB, FtC. The study of DNA of 40 F. tularensis strains in the polymerase chain reaction with specific primers to these loci a great variability in the number of repeats was established, the presence of 17 alleles being found in locus FtA, 5 alleles in locus FtB and 5 alleles in locus FtC. The strains under study formed 24 variants of genotypes, whose occurrence varied from 0.025 to 0.125. Taking into account the variability of the detected loci and a great number of potential loci VNTR in the genome, further development of this method will facilitate the creation of local and general data bases of the strains, thus ensuring more effective genetic typing of F. tularensis.