This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Desnos-Ollivier, M. Articles by Dannaoui, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Desnos-Ollivier, M. Articles by Dannaoui, E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2006, p. 3517-3523, Vol. 44, No. 10
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00862-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Identification of Black-Grain Mycetoma Agents

Centre National de Référence Mycologie et Antifongiques, Unité de Mycologie Moléculaire, CNRS FRE2849, Institut Pasteur, Paris,¹ Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, AP-HP, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Créteil,² Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, AP-HP, Hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades, Service des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, Paris,³ Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, AP-HP, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Unité de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Paris, France⁴

Received 24 April 2006/ Returned for modification 27 May 2006/ Accepted 23 July 2006

Black-grain mycetomas are subcutaneous devastating chronic infections due to several dematiaceous fungi. They are diagnosed mostly in tropical countries. Identification of these fungi with standard mycological procedures is difficult because of their poor or delayed sporulation. The aim of this study was thus to assess the accuracy of molecular identification of these fungi. A total of 54 strains, mostly of clinical origin, were used, including 15 Madurella mycetomatis, 6 Madurella grisea, 12 Leptosphaeria senegalensis, 4 Leptosphaeria tompkinsii, 6 Pyrenochaeta spp., 4 Curvularia lunata, and 7 Exophiala jeanselmei strains. The internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1)-5.8S-ITS2 DNA region was amplified by using universal fungal primers and sequenced. Both intra- and interspecies sequence similarities were assessed. Madurella mycetomatis appeared to be a homogeneous species. More intraspecies variations were found for C. lunata and E. jeanselmei, leading, in some instances, to changes in the initial identification. L. senegalensis and L. tompkinsii showed intraspecies similarities of >99%, but similarity between the two species was <88%. Intergenera and interspecies variations were important, with sequence homologies of <81% between genera. In contrast, Pyrenochaeta romeroi and M. grisea appeared to be heterogeneous, with intraspecies similarities of 40 to 100% and 53 to 100%, respectively, which suggest either erroneous identification or the need for taxonomic revision. Epidemiological and therapeutic studies could benefit from a precise identification of the fungi responsible for black-grain mycetoma based not only on phenotypical characteristics but also on ITS sequencing.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Geiser, D.M., Klich, M.A., Frisvad, J.C., Peterson, S.W., Varga, J., Samson, R.A. (2007). The current status of species recognition and identification in Aspergillus. SIM 59: 1-10 [Abstract] [Full Text]