Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates are resistant to at least isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF), the two most important components of effective antituberculosis therapy. Incorrect use of the drugs, treatment failures, and the transmission of MDR isolates have caused multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to become a rapidly increasing health problem in both developed and developing countries (3, 5). Drug susceptibility testing by conventional methods takes several weeks, while early diagnosis of the disease and the rapid identification of resistant strains are essential for efficient treatment and control of the MDR strains.In the last few years, there has been considerable progress in our understanding of the mechanisms of action and of the basis of resistance to the antituberculous drugs, especially resistance to INH and RIF. Resistance to INH has been associated with alterations in at least four genes, but extensive studies have demonstrated that INH resistance is most frequently associated with a specific mutation in codon 315 of M. tuberculosis catalase peroxidase (katG) gene (13). The prevalence of M. tuberculosis katG mutations varies geographically, but the katG codon 315 mutation is found in between 60 and 90% of the INH-resistant strains (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 15). The mechanism of resistance to RIF involves missense mutations in a well-characterized region of the beta subunit of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (which is encoded by the rpoB gene). Several studies have shown that more than 95% of RIF-resistant strains harbor a mutation within an 81-bp region of the rpoB gene (8,16,17).Generally, DNA sequencing-based approaches are considered the reference assays for the detection of mutations, but often, they have been found to be too cumbersome for routine use. The commercial strip assay INNO-LiPA Rif. TB (Innogenetics, Ghent, Belgium) has previously been evaluated for the detection of mutations conferring resistance to RIF in M. tuberculosis (7,11,14). The Genotype MTBDR assay (Hain Lifescience GmbH, Nehren, Germany) is a novel kit-based method for the detection of the most common mutations in M. tuberculosis katG and rpoB.The Genotype MTBDR test is based on the same general principle as the INNO-LiPA Rif. TB test, but it has the advantage of being able to detect the presence of mutations in both katG and rpoB simultaneously and thus predict resistance to both INH and RIF (6).Both strip tests are based on reverse hybridization of amplicons (katG in the Genotype MTBDR test and rpoB in both tests) to immobilized, membrane-bound probes covering the wild-type (WT) sequences; the katG 315 mutation (the Genotype MTBDR test); and the rpoB mutations Asp516Val, His526Tyr, His526Asp, and Ser531Leu. The aim of this study was to compare the performances of the Genotype MTBDR test and the INNO-LiPA Rif TB test for the rapid detection of MDR among Finnish and Russian M. tuberculosis isolates. The line probe assay results were compared to the results obtained by conventional sequencing and pheno...