Advances in molecular genetics of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata.

Ten years ago, when molecular genetic methods were being applied vigorously to viruses, bacterial pathogens and eukaryotic parasites, there seemed to be a partial paralysis in applying them to infectious fungi; this state of affairs was more than apparent in the composition of the symposia at the ISHAM conference in 1987. Since then, however, things have changed. The ISHAM conference held in Italy in 1997 was replete with studies utilizing molecular genetic techniques to answer questions related to epidemiology, pathogenesis, drug development and typing. In the symposium Advances in Molecular Genetics of Fungal Pathogens, several new applications of molecular biology to fungal pathogenesis were reviewed. Although the presentations in this symposium covered only a fraction of the molecular methods now being applied to Candida pathogenesis, they nevertheless provided an intriguing view of what is in store for us in the coming years.