Sequence analysis on drug-resistant rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-form of isolated from pneumoconiosis workers

Objective:To study the characteristics of drug-resistant genetic mutation of rpoB on coal workers’ pneumoconiosis complicated with L-form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methods: A total of 42 clinical isolated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-forms were collected, including 31 drug-resistant strains. Their genomes DNA were extracted, the target genes were amplified by PCR, and the hot regions in the rpoB gene were analyzed by automated DNA sequenator. Results: No mutation of rpoB gene was identified in 11 rifampicin-sensitive strains while conformation changes were found in 31 rifampicin-resistant strains. The mutation rate was 93.55% (29/31) in resistant strains, mainly concentrated in codon 531 (51.6%, 16/31) and 526 (32.26%, 10/31). Base substitutions happened, including 27 unit point mutation and 2 two point mutation. The mutation of codon 516 that new found wasn’t reported by internal and overseas scholars. Conclusion: The substitution of highly conserved amino acids encoded by rpoB gene results in the molecular mechanism responsible for rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-forms. It also proves that rpoB gene is diversiform.