(PhysOrg.com) -- Simon Fraser University researchers are the
first to combine the latest techniques of whole bacterial genome
analysis with social networking surveys to track down the
puzzling origins of a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in a B.C.
community. The researchers, led by SFU microbiology professor
Fiona Brinkman, worked with the BC Centre for Disease Control
(BCCDC). They applied the latest methods in gene-sequencing
analysis to obtain maps of the complete genetic codes of the TB
bacteria genomes from 36 sufferers in the affected community.
They also sequenced bacteria from a former TB outbreak in the
area to see if it had mutated. Even though conventional DNA
fingerprinting showed the bacteria all had the same genotype,
the full genome analysis uncovered a previously hidden layer of
genetic diversity about 200 locations in a genome of four
million letters that distinguished the different samples from
each other. Researchers then produced a family tree of the two
TB strains, showing which samples were r