Patent ID: 7749696

Claim:
A method for determining the presence or absence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M. tuberculosis ) in a biological sample, comprising (a) performing nucleic acid amplification in the presence of the nucleic acids from the biological sample and a primer pair suitable for amplifying a DNA segment comprising a region of SEQ ID NO:1 that encompasses position −215, in the 5′ to 3′ direction of reading, upstream of the translation start codon GTG of the narGHJI nitrate reductase operon, and (b) determining in the amplification product of step (a), the presence or absence of the polymorphism specific for M. tuberculosis in position −215, wherein the polymorphism specific for M. tuberculosis in position −215 is thymine (T), and wherein the presence of the polymorphism indicates the presence of M. tuberculosis in the biological sample, and the absence of the polymorphism indicates the absence of M. tuberculosis in the biological sample.