Abstract:SUMMARYSerotype, mating type and ploidy of 84 strains of Cryptococcus neoformans isolated from 61 AIDS and 23 non-AIDS patients admitted in a tertiary teaching hospital in São Paulo, Brazil were examined. Among 61 strains isolated from AIDS patients, 60 strains were var. grubii (serotype A). Only one strain was var. gattii (serotype B). No var. neoformans (serotype D) was found. Among 23 strains isolated from non-AIDS patients, 15 were var. grubii (serotype A) and the remaining 8 were var. gattii, all of which… Show more
“…Mating type α-specific primer was used here and yielded a 101bp MATα fragment in all cases, showing that all C. neoformans isolates were MATα, consistently with a previous study showing that MATα is more frequent than MATa among clinical as well as environmental isolates 12,25,27,42 . Information about the mating-types of C. neoformans strains is important for an understanding of their ecology and virulence.…”
SUMMARYThe basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus neoformans is an important fungal pathogen mainly in immunocompromised patients. In this study, 47 clinical isolates of C. neoformans from regions of São Paulo State were studied serologically by using the Crypto Check Iatron RM 304-K kit, their genetic diversity was estimated by PCR-fingerprinting with a microsatellite-specific sequence (GACA) 4 , RAPD with primer 6 (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech), PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the phospholipase B gene (PLB1) digested with AvaI and mating type analysis by PCR. All 47 strains isolated from HIV positive patients included in this study were serotype A and MATα. The majority of the isolates (45/47) were VNI and only two were VNII by PCR-fingerprinting and PCR-RFLP analysis. High degree of homogeneity was observed when (GACA) 4 was used, being highly correlated (> 0.9). In contrast, the RAPD analysis was more heterogeneous with higher number of molecular profiles. By PCR-RFLP, no new molecular type was found, enhancing the suggestion that the differences based on conserved gene as PLB1, can be resultant of ongoing divergent evolution within the C. neoformans complex, into the current eight subtypes. Our results furnish new information on the molecular epidemiology of C. neoformans in the southeast region of Brazil.
“…Mating type α-specific primer was used here and yielded a 101bp MATα fragment in all cases, showing that all C. neoformans isolates were MATα, consistently with a previous study showing that MATα is more frequent than MATa among clinical as well as environmental isolates 12,25,27,42 . Information about the mating-types of C. neoformans strains is important for an understanding of their ecology and virulence.…”
SUMMARYThe basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus neoformans is an important fungal pathogen mainly in immunocompromised patients. In this study, 47 clinical isolates of C. neoformans from regions of São Paulo State were studied serologically by using the Crypto Check Iatron RM 304-K kit, their genetic diversity was estimated by PCR-fingerprinting with a microsatellite-specific sequence (GACA) 4 , RAPD with primer 6 (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech), PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the phospholipase B gene (PLB1) digested with AvaI and mating type analysis by PCR. All 47 strains isolated from HIV positive patients included in this study were serotype A and MATα. The majority of the isolates (45/47) were VNI and only two were VNII by PCR-fingerprinting and PCR-RFLP analysis. High degree of homogeneity was observed when (GACA) 4 was used, being highly correlated (> 0.9). In contrast, the RAPD analysis was more heterogeneous with higher number of molecular profiles. By PCR-RFLP, no new molecular type was found, enhancing the suggestion that the differences based on conserved gene as PLB1, can be resultant of ongoing divergent evolution within the C. neoformans complex, into the current eight subtypes. Our results furnish new information on the molecular epidemiology of C. neoformans in the southeast region of Brazil.
“…All four diploid/aneuploid isolates within the C. neoformans cluster belonged to MATa and possessed one allele for each of the six loci analyzed. Other diploid/aneuploid C. neoformans isolates, which posses only one mating-type allele, have been described (Cogliati et al, 2001;Ohkusu et al, 2002;Litvintseva et al, 2003). The presence of only one mating-type allele and the identification of only one allele for all six studied loci suggest that these isolates may have originated from auto-diploidization or same-sex mating.…”
“…neoformans and C. gattii are heterothallic and have complementary sexual crossing systems, or mating types (MAT ), with a locus with two alleles: MATa and MATa. It is important to know which sexual type is involved, in order to understand the ecology and virulence of this microorganism (Chaturvedi et al 2000;Lengeler et al 2001;Ohkusu et al 2002).…”
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