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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2007, p. 1261-1265, Vol. 45, No. 4
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01839-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Identification of Cryptococcus neoformans Serotypes

Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Faculté de Médecine Pierre et Marie Curie, site St. Antoine, F-75012 Paris, France,¹ Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, APHP, Hôpital Tenon, F-75020 Paris, France,² Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital Bretonneau, F-37044 Tours, France,³ Scientific Institute of Public Health, Mycology Section, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium,⁴ Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, APHP, Hôpital St. Antoine, F-75012 Paris, France⁵

Received 5 September 2006/ Returned for modification 16 October 2006/ Accepted 29 January 2007

Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes life-threatening infections primarily in immunocompromised hosts. Based on the genetic characteristics and serologic properties of capsular polysaccharides, three varieties and five serotypes have been defined: C. neoformans var. neoformans (serotype D), C. neoformans var. grubii (serotype A), hybrid serotype AD, and C. neoformans var. gattii (serotypes B and C). Epidemiologic features, such as geographic distribution and ecologic niche, and clinical characteristics have been shown to be associated with serotypes. At the present time, serotyping is based on agglutination tests with either commercial or "homemade" antisera or on immunofluorescence assays using a monoclonal antibody directed against the capsule polysaccharide. In this paper, we describe two molecular methods (PCR-restriction enzyme analysis and length polymorphism analysis) for C. neoformans serotype identification. Both are based on the sequence characteristics of a fragment of the CAP59 gene required for capsule biosynthesis. Testing of 72 C. neoformans strains including representatives of the five serotypes demonstrated the reliability of these methods.

Published ahead of print on 7 February 2007.