Genotypic Diversity Is Independent of Pathogenicity in Colombian Strains of and in .

Cryptococcosis is a potentially fatal opportunistic mycosis that affects the lungs and central nervous system. It has been suggested that certain strains of may have the potential to be more virulent according to the molecular type. This study aims to investigate the association between virulence in the model and genotypic diversity of Colombian clinical and environmental isolates of . A total of 33 clinical and 12 environmental isolates were selected according to their geographical origin and sequence types (STs). Pathogenicity was determined using the model, and the cell and capsular size before and after inoculation was determined. For , virulence in revealed that death occurred on average on day 6 ( < 0.05) and that ST5C, 6C, 25C and 71C were the most virulent. In , death occurred at 7.3 days ( < 0.05), and ST47C, 58C, 75A and 106C were the most virulent. Capsular size increased for both species after passage in . In conclusion, the pathogenicity of strains in the invertebrate model is independent of molecular type or pathogenicity factor, even within the same ST, but it is possible to find variable degrees of pathogenicity.