Background/aim: Determining the epidemiological characteristics of M. bovis strains isolated from human and animal tuberculosis cases will assist in taking more appropriate and effective control measures in controlling tuberculosis originating from animals. Materials and methods: In this study, 32 M. bovis isolates of animal origin and 10 of human origin were isolated and identified in the Çukurova region between March 2011 and June 2012. The 12-locus MIRU-VNTR and spoligotyping methods were used. Results: Six different patterns were determined by spoligotyping and 10 by MIRU-VNTR. When both methods were used together, the number of patterns was found to be 28; MIRU4, MIRU26, MIRU31, and MIRU40 had the highest locus discrimination powers by MIRU-VNTR. The isolates concentrated in the SB0120 pattern at the rate of 42.85% in spoligotyping. By the same method, it was seen that 7 isolates were M bovis ssp. caprae pattern and 2 human isolates were M. bovis BCG pattern. Nevertheless, spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR patterns showed that 5 M. bovis isolates of human origin were 100% compatible with isolates originating from cattle. Conclusion: In this study, we determined that the use of spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR methods together was found to be more sensitive in the epidemiological analysis of M. bovis isolates.