The Macrophage-Induced Gene mig as a Marker for Clinical Pathogenicity and In Vitro Virulence of Mycobacterium avium Complex Strains

The capacity of 20 Mycobacterium avium complex isolates to multiply intracellularly in human monocyte-derived macrophages was assessed and correlated to the clinical relevance of each isolate and its reactivity with several candidate genetic virulence markers. The strongest correlation with a virulence phenotype was found for a conserved coding sequence of the macrophage-induced gene mig identified by a specific mig restriction fragment length polymorphism type.