Environmental distribution of Cryptococcus species and some other yeast-like fungi in India

TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental distribution of Cryptococcus species and some other yeast-like fungi in India

AU - Prakash, Anupam

AU - Randhawa, Harbans S

AU - Khan, Zia U

AU - Ahmad, Suhail

AU - Hagen, Ferry

AU - Meis, Jacques F

AU - Chowdhary, Anuradha

N1 - © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - A study of environmental distribution revealed the occurrence of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in 9% and 3%, respectively, of 611 samples investigated. C. neoformans showed the highest isolation frequency from tree trunk hollows in Delhi (31%), whereas C. gattii occurred in 12% of the samples in Delhi and 5% in Rajasthan. In addition, Cryptococcus laurentii (=Papiliotrema laurentii), C. rajasthanensis (=Papiliotrema rajasthanensis), C. podzolicus (=Saitozyma podzolica) and C. flavescens (=Papiliotrema flavescens) occurred in 0.5% each. The recovery of C. flavescens and C. podzolicus was new findings for India. One more noteworthy finding was isolation of a new yeast, recently classified as Saitozyma cassiae sp. Novo. The previous strain of this yeast came from tree bark debris in South India. Our isolates came from decayed wood inside a trunk hollow of an Acacia tree in, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan. The isolations of novel strains of Cutaneotrichosporon moniliiforme from decayed wood of a Pinus tree was another significant finding. Phenotypically, they differed from T. moniliforme by being encapsulated cells, had melanin-like pigment production and were unable to assimilate d-manitol and d-melezitose. AFLP analysis showed a distinctive banding profile vis-a-vis the reference strains of T. moniliiforme and Cryptotrichosporon anacardii.

AB - A study of environmental distribution revealed the occurrence of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in 9% and 3%, respectively, of 611 samples investigated. C. neoformans showed the highest isolation frequency from tree trunk hollows in Delhi (31%), whereas C. gattii occurred in 12% of the samples in Delhi and 5% in Rajasthan. In addition, Cryptococcus laurentii (=Papiliotrema laurentii), C. rajasthanensis (=Papiliotrema rajasthanensis), C. podzolicus (=Saitozyma podzolica) and C. flavescens (=Papiliotrema flavescens) occurred in 0.5% each. The recovery of C. flavescens and C. podzolicus was new findings for India. One more noteworthy finding was isolation of a new yeast, recently classified as Saitozyma cassiae sp. Novo. The previous strain of this yeast came from tree bark debris in South India. Our isolates came from decayed wood inside a trunk hollow of an Acacia tree in, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan. The isolations of novel strains of Cutaneotrichosporon moniliiforme from decayed wood of a Pinus tree was another significant finding. Phenotypically, they differed from T. moniliforme by being encapsulated cells, had melanin-like pigment production and were unable to assimilate d-manitol and d-melezitose. AFLP analysis showed a distinctive banding profile vis-a-vis the reference strains of T. moniliiforme and Cryptotrichosporon anacardii.

KW - Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis

KW - Animals

KW - Birds

KW - Cryptococcosis/epidemiology

KW - Cryptococcus/classification

KW - Cryptococcus gattii/isolation & purification

KW - Cryptococcus neoformans/isolation & purification

KW - Environmental Microbiology

KW - Feces/microbiology

KW - Genes, Mating Type, Fungal

KW - Humans

KW - India/epidemiology

KW - Phylogeny

KW - Pinus/anatomy & histology

KW - Plant Bark/microbiology

KW - Serogroup

KW - Soil Microbiology

KW - Trees/anatomy & histology

KW - Wood/metabolism

KW - Yeasts/classification

U2 - 10.1111/myc.12741

DO - 10.1111/myc.12741

M3 - Article

C2 - 29280202

SN - 0933-7407

VL - 61

SP - 305

EP - 313

JO - Mycoses

JF - Mycoses

IS - 5

ER -