Pathogenic diversity amongst serotype C VGIII and VGIV Cryptococcus gattii isolates.

Cryptococcus gattii is one of the causative agents of human cryptococcosis. Highly virulent strains of serotype B C. gattii have been studied in detail, but little information is available on the pathogenic properties of serotype C isolates.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry identification of yeasts is contingent on robust reference spectra.

Background: Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for yeast identification is limited by the requirement for protein extraction and for robust reference spectra across yeast species in databases. We evaluated its ability to identify a range of yeasts in comparison with phenotypic methods.

Methods: MALDI-TOF MS was performed on 30 reference and 167 clinical isolates followed by prospective examination of 67 clinical strains in parallel with biochemical testing (total n = 264).

Molecular typing of Australian Scedosporium isolates showing genetic variability and numerous S. aurantiacum.

One hundred clinical isolates from a prospective nationwide study of scedosporiosis in Australia (2003-2005) and 46 additional isolates were genotyped by internal transcribed spacer-restriction fragment length polymorphism (ITS-RFLP) analysis, ITS sequencing, and M13 PCR fingerprinting. ITS-RFLP and PCR fingerprinting identified 3 distinct genetic groups. The first group corresponded to Scedosporium prolificans (n = 83), and the other 2 comprised isolates previously identified as S.