Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Microbiology 2008-3289 6 1 2014 02 15 1 7 EN Abdolrazagh Hashemi-Shahraki Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Parvin Heidarieh Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran. Maryam Biranvand Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Saeed Zaker Bostanabad Microbiology Department, Islamic Azad University-Parand Branch, Tehran, Iran. Nasrin Sheikhi Masoud Laboratory, Tehran, Iran. Mohamad Hashemzadeh Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Masume Karami Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Mohammad Mehdi Feizabadi Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2015 10 16 Background and Objectives: The increase of infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is receiving increasing attention worldwide. Mycobacterium fortuitum is encountered with increasing frequency in clinical laboratories of Iran. Materials and Methods: Sequence variation of 48 M. fortuitum clinical isolates, were investigated by sequence analysis of the 16S-23S Internal Transcribed Spacer. Results: Twelve different sequence types (sequevar) were identified by sequence analysis of ITS region. Seven previously described sequevar including MfoA, MfoB, MfoC, MfoD, MfoE, MfoF and MfoG identified. Five novel sequevar namely MfoH, MfoI, MfoJ, MfoK and MfoL that were distinctly different from the previously described sequevar were detected among different clinical strains of M. fortuitum, from Iran. Conclusion: This study showed that the ITS region possesses high discriminatory power between the clinical isolates up to the clonal level. The results also suggest the possibility of the existence of predominant clone of M. fortuitum in affected patients in Iran. The data also point to the conclusion that a large variety of M. fortuitum clone can produce disease although certain clones seem to be predominant. https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/view/476 https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/download/476/252