Clonal Diversity of Candida auris, Candida blankii, and Kodamaea ohmeri Isolated from Septicemia and Otomycosis in Bangladesh as Determined by Multilocus Sequence Typing

Abstract

Candida auris, Candida blankii, and Kodamaea ohmeri have been regarded as emerging fungal pathogens that can cause infections with high mortality. For genotyping of C. auris, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme based on four locus sequences has been reported, while there is no typing scheme for C. blankii and K. ohmeri. In the present study, the existing MLST scheme of C. auris was modified by adding more locus types deduced from sequence data available in the GenBank database. Furthermore, MLST schemes of C. blankii and K. ohmeri were developed using the four cognate loci (ITS, RPB1, RPB2, D1/D2) and similar sequence regions to those of C. auris. These MLST schemes were applied to identify the ST (sequence type) of clinical isolates of C. auris (n = 7), C. blankii (n = 9), and K. ohmeri (n = 6), derived from septicemia or otomycosis in Bangladesh in 2021. All the C. auris isolates were classified into a single ST (ST5) and clade I, having a Y132F substitution in ERG11p, which is associated with azole resistance. Similarly, all the C. blankii isolates belonged to a single type (ST1). In contrast, six K. ohmeri isolates were assigned to five types (ST1-ST5), suggesting its higher genetic diversity. These findings revealed the availability of MLST schemes for these three fungal species for understanding their clonal diversity among clinical isolates.

Candida auris Infection, a Rapidly Emerging Threat in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Systematic Review

“…Wound and soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, central nervous system infections, and generalized infections in immunosuppressed patients have been described in the international literature [ 60 ]. According to our systematic review, we located 24 publications [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 32 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ] from 2013 until today, in which 476 cases of C. auris infections are reported. Unfortunately, there was a lot of information missing among the retrieved studies.…”

First Report of the Emerging Pathogen Kodamaea ohmeri in Honduras

“…Our findings, along with the existing genomic data, suggest that the genetic diversity of this emerging species is restricted. In contrast, one study used a Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) approach with six K. ohmeri isolates causing infections in Bangladesh, and the authors reported five different allelic profiles [ 43 ]. The authors present a dendrogram displaying eight distinct clusters.…”

A Case of Septic Shock due to Kodamaea Ohmeri

“…K.ohmeri is considered to be an emerging and rare fungal pathogen that can cause invasive infections such as peritonitis, endocarditis, urinary tract infection, ear infection, cellulitis, fungemia, tinea onychomycosis, pneumonia, keratitis, oral diseases, and disseminated infections, with high mortality rates due to fungal bacteraemia, especially in children [1][2][3] Molecular epidemiological information on K. ohmeri isolates is currently unavailable, and studies have speculated that their wide range of infection types may be related to the underlying genomic diversity that allows K. ohmeri to adapt to a variety of human sites and tissues [4] . This microbe has been found in patients around the world, with nearly 70% of infections occurring in Asia (especially East and Southeast Asia), but its regional and ethnic heterogeneity is unknown due to the low number of reported cases.…”