DNA barcoding of clinically relevant Cunninghamella species

Jin Yu, G Walther, A D Van Diepeningen, A H G Gerrits Van Den Ende, Ruo-Yu Li, T A A Moussa, O A Almaghrabi, G S De Hoog

    Research output: Contribution to journal/periodicalArticleScientificpeer-review

    22 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Mucormycosis caused, in part, by representatives of the genus Cunninghamella is a severe infection with high mortality in patients with impaired immunity. Several species have been described in the literature as etiologic agents. A DNA barcoding study using ITS rDNA and tef-1α provided concordance of molecular data with conventional characters. The currently accepted Cunninghamella species were well supported in phylogenetic trees of both markers except for C. septata with ITS that clustered in the C. echinulata clade. Sequence variability was distinctly higher for the ITS than for tef-1α. Intraspecific ITS variability of some of the species exceeded that between some closely related species, but the marker remained applicable for species identification. The most variable species for both markers was C. echinulata. Cunninghamella bertholletiae is the main pathogenic species; infections by C. blakesleeana, C. echinulata, and C. elegans are highly exceptional.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)99-106
    Number of pages8
    JournalMedical Mycology
    Volume53
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 01 Feb 2015

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