Determination of Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans mating type by multiplex PCR

M C Esposto; M Cogliati; A M Tortorano; M A Viviani

doi:10.1111/j.1469-0691.2004.00972.x

Determination of Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans mating type by multiplex PCR

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2004 Dec;10(12):1092-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2004.00972.x.

Authors

M C Esposto¹, M Cogliati, A M Tortorano, M A Viviani

Affiliation

¹ Istituto di Igiene e Medicina Preventina, Università degli Studi di Milano, IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore, Milano, Italy.

PMID: 15606637
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2004.00972.x

Abstract

Mating type plays an important role in the epidemiology and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans. The present study designed a multiplex PCR method to distinguish the six mating type patterns (Aa, Da, Aalpha, Dalpha, Aa/Dalpha, and Aalpha/Da) of C. neoformans var. neoformans. PCR amplification identified one fragment for Aa (860 bp), Dalpha (413 bp) and Da (645 bp) strains, two fragments for Aalpha (320 and 400 bp) and Aa/Dalpha (860 and 413 bp) strains, and three fragments (645, 400, 320 bp) for an Aalpha/Da strain. The method appears to be a valid, simple and relatively inexpensive tool for epidemiological and virulence studies.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cryptococcus neoformans / genetics*
Cryptococcus neoformans / isolation & purification*
Genes, Fungal*
Genes, Mating Type, Fungal*
Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Virulence