Rapid identification of eight pathogenic filamentous fungi with PCR-RFLP analysis.

Abstract

Objective To develop a PCR-RFLP method to rapidly identify filamentous fungi causing deep infection. Methods Universal fungal primers were used to amplify the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus Bavus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus nidulans, Scedosporium apiospermum and Fusarium moniliforme followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with restrictive endonucleases Hha I, Hae III, Hinf I, Taq I and Msp I. Then, 22 clinical and 2 environmental fungal isolates were identified with the developed PCR-RFLP method. Results The RFLP analysis of PCR products with restrictive endonucleases Hha I and Hinf I allowed discrimination of 8 filamentous fungi causing invasive infection, and it took only 1 day to carry out the whole procedure from DNA extraction to PCR and restriction digestion. The identification results of 22 clinical strains and 2 environmental isolates with this PCR-RFLP method were completely consistent with those with conventional morphological method. Conclusion PCR-RFLP analysis is an efficient method for rapid identification of cultured filamentous fungi. Key words: Fungi; Polymorphism, restriction fragment length