Intra- and Interpatient Variability of the <i>hsp65</i> and 16S-23S Intergenic Gene Region in <i>Mycobacterium abscessus</i> Strains from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract

To establish the exact pathogenic role of Mycobacterium abscessus in cystic fibrosis (CF), molecular tests are required for accurate identification. Forty-eight M. abscessus isolates from seven patients with CF were analyzed by sequence analysis for sequence variants within the hsp65 gene and the 16S-23S intergenic sequence (ITS). We detected two different hsp65 genes and correspondingly two ITS sequevars belonging to M. abscessus type I and type II.