Open AccessMolecular typing of clinical and environmental Cryptococcus neoformans isolates in the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul
Author(s) -
Casali Agnes Kiesling,
Goulart Letícia,
Rosa e Silva Lívia Kmetzsch,
Ribeiro Ângela Medeiros,
Amaral Aline Almeida,
Alves Sydney Hartz,
Schrank Augusto,
Meyer Wieland,
Vainstein Marilene Henning
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
fems yeast research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1567-1364
pISSN - 1567-1356
DOI - 10.1016/s1567-1356(03)00038-2
Subject(s) - biology , cryptococcus neoformans , serotype , microbiology and biotechnology , molecular epidemiology , population , mating type , genotype , genetics , demography , sociology , gene
In Brazil, 4.5% of the AIDS‐related opportunistic infections are caused by Cryptococcus neoformans . This pathogen is a ubiquitous environmental basidiomycetous encapsulated yeast, commonly found in soil and avian excreta. The present study investigates further the population structure of clinical and environmental C. neoformans isolates from south Brazil. One hundred five clinical and 19 environmental (pigeon excreta and Eucalyptus spp.) isolates from the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul were characterized based on morphological, biochemical, molecular and serological data. The majority of the clinical and environmental isolates analyzed belonged to C. neoformans var. grubii serotype A (89.5 and 52.6%, respectively), were mating type α (98.1 and 94.7%, respectively) and were phospholipase‐positive (94.3 and 73.7%, respectively). PCR‐fingerprinting with the microsatellite‐specific primer M13 and the minisatellite‐specific primer (GACA) 4 grouped the majority of the isolates into the molecular type VNI (89.5 of the clinical and 52.6% of the environmental isolates). Our results add considerable new information to the few available data on ecology, molecular biology and epidemiology of C. neoformans in the southern region of Brazil.