Clinical Strains Of Candida Albicans Research Articles

Identification of clinical strains of Candida albicans by DNA fingerprinting with the polymerase chain reaction.

DNA polymorphisms generated by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to differentiate clinical isolates of Candida. This PCR method employed single primers that were originally designed as hybridization probes for DNA fingerprinting experiments to probe minisatellite and microsatellite DNA sequences. To evaluate this procedure, 35 isolates from 20 patients in several intensive care units and 12 isolates obtained from the oral cavities of healthy dental patients were fingerprinted. The PCR-fingerprint patterns of isolates of Candida albicans from the immunocompromised patients revealed fewer differences than isolates from the dental service. Multiple isolates from different body sites of the same patients revealed that patients may harbour isolates of Candida with the same or different PCR-fingerprints. Since this method is generally simpler and faster than established methods of biotyping medically important yeasts, PCR-fingerprinting may prove useful for the surveying of large numbers of pathogens for epidemiological studies.

The frequency distribution and consistency of assimilation biotypes of Candida albicans.

Two hundred and fifty clinical strains of Candida albicans and six isolates from a cross-infection outbreak were studied for their ability to assimilate 19 carbohydrates in the API-20C system (APILaboratory Products Ltd., Basingstoke, UK). The assimilation profiles were stable on repeat testing; at intervals in the 72 h duration of the test; and when incubated at different temperatures. Although not a complete system of biotyping, the API-20C system shows high typability, and fair reproducibility and discrimination, having a limited role in indicating which isolates should be typed by more elaborate methods.