Molecular identification of Cryptococcus gattii from cerebrospinal fluid using single-cell sequencing: A case study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Molecular identification of Cryptococcus gattii from cerebrospinal fluid using single-cell sequencing

T2 - A case study

AU - Chen, Min

AU - Hong, Nan

AU - Hu, Shan

AU - Wang, Peng

AU - Guan, HongZhi

AU - Xiao, Meng

AU - Zhu, Xinlin

AU - Al-Hatmi, Abdullah M S

AU - Zhou, Zhe

AU - Gao, Lei

AU - Boekhout, Teun

AU - Xu, Jianping

AU - Xu, Yingchun

AU - Liao, Wanqing

AU - Yang, Ying

N1 - Copyright © 2020 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - A 31-year-old man presented with cryptococcal meningitis (CM) without typical clinical characteristics, but with abnormal walking, difficult leg lifting and frequent falling. He was admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital. After multiple tests failed to identify the pathogen, single-cell sequencing (scS) was used to test the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Comparing the sequence obtained from single-cell sequencing with the reference database, it was found that the infection was caused by Cryptococcus gattii sensu stricto (AFLP4/VGI genotype). Cryptococcus is difficult to cultivate from complex body fluids. The etiological agent of this patient was identified and the patient was treated. This is the first case in which scS was used to detect and identify fungal pathogen after conventional testing failed to identify the cause of the disease. This report demonstrates that the scS approach can be used to generate fungal genome sequences directly from the CSF of a CM patient. The scS technology could become a powerful tool to precise detect microscopically visible but uncultured pathogens in clinical samples.

AB - A 31-year-old man presented with cryptococcal meningitis (CM) without typical clinical characteristics, but with abnormal walking, difficult leg lifting and frequent falling. He was admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital. After multiple tests failed to identify the pathogen, single-cell sequencing (scS) was used to test the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Comparing the sequence obtained from single-cell sequencing with the reference database, it was found that the infection was caused by Cryptococcus gattii sensu stricto (AFLP4/VGI genotype). Cryptococcus is difficult to cultivate from complex body fluids. The etiological agent of this patient was identified and the patient was treated. This is the first case in which scS was used to detect and identify fungal pathogen after conventional testing failed to identify the cause of the disease. This report demonstrates that the scS approach can be used to generate fungal genome sequences directly from the CSF of a CM patient. The scS technology could become a powerful tool to precise detect microscopically visible but uncultured pathogens in clinical samples.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.06.040

DO - 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.06.040

M3 - Article

C2 - 32590007

SN - 0163-4453

VL - 81

SP - 634

EP - 638

JO - The Journal of infection

JF - The Journal of infection

IS - 4

ER -