Molecular Epidemiology ofFonsecaeaSpecies

Mohammad Javad Najafzadeh,A.H.G Gerrits Van Den Ende,Alexandro Bonifaz,Corne H.W Klaassen,Jiufeng Sun,Vania A Vicente,Steph B.J Menken,G Sybren De Hoog

doi:10.3201/eid1703.100555

Abstract

Abstract To assess population diversities among 81 strains of fungi in the genus Fonsecaea that had been identified down to species level, we applied amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) technology and sequenced the internal transcribed spacer regions and the partial cell division cycle, β-tubulin, and actin genes. Many species of the genus Fonsecaea cause human chromoblastomycosis. Strains originated from a global sampling of clinical and environmental sources in the Western Hemisphere, Asia, Africa, and Europe. According to AFLP fingerprinting, Fonsecaea isolates clustered in 5 groups corresponding with F. pedrosoi, F. monophora, and F. nubica: the latter 2 species each comprised 2 groups, and F. pedrosoi appeared to be of monophyletic origin. F. pedrosoi was found nearly exclusively in Central and South America. F. monophora and F. nubica were distributed worldwide, but both showed substantial geographic structuring. Clinical cases outside areas where Fonsecaea is endemic were probably distributed by human migration.

Highlights

To assess population diversities among 81 strains of fungi in the genus Fonsecaea that had been identified down to species level, we applied amplified fragmentlength polymorphism (AFLP) technology and sequenced the internal transcribed spacer regions and the partial cell division cycle, β-tubulin, and actin genes
We present an amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) DNA fingerprinting study of a worldwide collection of clinical isolates that were identified as Fonsecaea spp. by state-of-the-art sequencing methods, supplemented with environmental isolates of the same species
Dendrograms derived from the AFLP banding patterns of Fonsecaea spp. were generated by using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means cluster analysis

Summary

Introduction

To assess population diversities among 81 strains of fungi in the genus Fonsecaea that had been identified down to species level, we applied amplified fragmentlength polymorphism (AFLP) technology and sequenced the internal transcribed spacer regions and the partial cell division cycle, β-tubulin, and actin genes. According to AFLP fingerprinting, Fonsecaea isolates clustered in 5 groups corresponding with F. pedrosoi, F. monophora, and F. nubica: the latter 2 species each comprised 2 groups, and F. pedrosoi appeared to be of monophyletic origin. The genus comprises 3 sibling species: F. pedrosoi, F. monophora, and F. nubica, each of which has pathogenic potential [10,13,14]. Humans presumably acquire the infection after being pricked by contaminated thorns or wood splinters, but some agents are substantially more clinically prevalent than their predominantly (hitherto unnamed) environmental counterparts [15], which indicates that infection is not a random process. We present an amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) DNA fingerprinting study of a worldwide collection of clinical isolates that were identified as Fonsecaea spp. by state-of-the-art sequencing methods, supplemented with environmental isolates of the same species. The AFLP technique is a powerful method for discrimination between fungal species and for providing high-resolution fingerprinting data within species [17,18,19]

Methods

Results

Conclusion