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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 03 1995, 696-700, Vol 33, No. 3
M McCullough, B Ross and P Reade
During the course of a study of oral Candida albicans strains from 60 human
immunodeficiency virus-infected patients over a 2.5-year period, 18 of the
295 C. albicans isolates had genomes that failed to hybridize with a C.
albicans-specific DNA probe (27A). These strains were germ tube positive
and chlamydospore positive and were identified as C. albicans by the ID 32C
test (API Systems, Montlieu, France). These strains were analyzed for the
presence of two other C. albicans- specific DNA segments by PCR. The first
was a C. albicans 1,348-bp species-specific sequence, and the second was a
1,059-bp C. albicans repetitive element. The probe 27A-hybridizing strains
yielded PCR products which differed from those of the nonhybridizing
strains. Five of these genetically atypical C. albicans strains and 98 of
the C. albicans strains were then analyzed for purported virulence factors.
The genetically atypical C. albicans strains, in comparison with typical C.
albicans strains, produced greater amounts of extracellular proteinase (P =
0.038, Student's t test), adhered to a greater degree to buccal epithelial
cells (P = 0.018, Student's t test), and were less susceptible to the
antifungal drug 5-flucytosine (P = 0.0003, Mann- Whitney test). Analysis of
these strains with other common antifungal drugs showed no statistically
significant variation in susceptibility. The results of this study
indicated that these genetically atypical C. albicans strains possess
increased virulence in comparison with typical C. albicans strains.
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Characterization of genetically distinct subgroup of Candida albicans strains isolated from oral cavities of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus
School of Dental Science, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Science, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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