PCR-based method to differentiate the subspecies of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex on the basis of genomic deletions.

The classical Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MtbC) subspecies include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum (subtypes I and II), Mycobacterium bovis (along with the attenuated M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin [BCG]), and Mycobacterium microti; increasingly recognized MtbC groupings include Mycobacterium bovis subsp. caprae and "Mycobacterium tuberculosis subsp.