“…The molecular basis of resistance to RIF in nearly 95% of RIF-resistant strains is due to missense mutations or, less commonly, to small in-frame deletions or insertions in or around the 81 bp rifampicin resistance-determining region (RRDR) (corresponding to codons 507-533, Escherichia coli numbering system) of the rpoB gene, encoding the -subunit of DNAdependent RNA polymerase [7,8]. Thus, several molecular methods have been developed for the rapid (1-2 days) detection of rpoB mutations in this region [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and one of these, the line probe (INNO-LiPA Rif. TB) assay (LiPA) is available commercially [10,11].…”