A very simple, inexpensive and effective tool for Tuberculosis/ Mycobacterium research. Spoligotyping is a PCR-based Method to Simultaneously Detect and Type Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex Bacteria. Spoligotyping, which uses RLB (Reversed Line Blotting) offers an alternative for typical Southern blotting when rapid results are required. The method is particularly useful to simultaneously detect and type M. tuberculosis complex bacteria in clinical samples (suspected nosocomial infections, outbreaks in prisons, etc.). The level of differentiation by spoligotyping is less compared to IS6110 fingerprinting for strains having five or more IS6110 copies, but higher for strains with less than five copies. Thus, Spoligotyping is a preferred method to type M. bovis strains, which usually contain only one or two IS6110 copies. Note, that Mycobacterium bovis can be recognized by the absence of reactivity with spacers 39-43.