Genomic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains used for production of purified protein derivative.

The genomes of the tuberculin production strains Mycobacterium bovis AN5 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis DT were compared to genome-sequenced tubercle bacilli by using DNA microarrays. Neither the AN5 nor DT strain suffered extensive gene deletions during in vitro passage. This suggests that bovine tuberculin made from M. bovis AN5 is suitable to detect infection with presently prevalent M. bovis strains.