Patent ID: 6905822

Claim:
A method of determining the ability of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium to oxidize (a) ethionamide, said method comprising detecting a mutation in an EtaA gene (SEQ ID NO:1) in said bacterium, which mutated gene encodes an amino acid sequence which differs from that of SEQ ID NO:2 by (i) a frameshift mutation selected from the group consisting of: a deletion at position 65, an addition at position 557, and an addition at position 811, or (ii) a single nucleotide polymorphism which causes an amino acid substitution selected from the group consisting of: G43C, P51L, D58A, Y84D, T186K, T342K, and A381P, (b) thiacetazone, said method comprising detecting a mutation in the EtaA gene (SEQ ID NO:1) in said bacterium, which mutated gene encodes an amino acid sequence which differs from that of SEQ ID NO:2 by (i) a frameshift mutation selected from the group consisting of: a deletion at position 65 and an addition at position 811, or (ii) a single nucleotide polymorphism which causes an amino acid substitution selected from the group consisting of: G43C, P51L, D58A, Y84D, T342K, and A381P, or (c) thiocarlide, said method comprising detecting a mutation in the EtaA gene (SEQ ID NO:1) in said bacterium, which mutated gene encodes an amino acid sequence which differs from that of SEQ ID NO:2 by (i) a frameshift mutation selected from the group consisting of: a deletion at position 65 and an addition at position 811, or (ii) a single nucleotide polymorphism which causes an amino acid substitution selected from the group consisting of: G43C, P51L, D58A, Y84D, and A381P, wherein detection of the mutation is indicative of decreased ability to oxidize ethionamide, thiacetazone or thiocarlide, respectively.