title: Pneumocystis carinii shows DNA homology with the ustomycetous red yeast fungi.
abstract: Pneumocystis carinii causes life-threatening pneumonia in T-lymphocyte-immunodeficient subjects in transplant and oncology units or with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Recent DNA homology studies show P. carinii to be a fungus. To investigate the biology and epidemiology of this parasite further, we elected to determine for it a more precise taxonomic assignment within the fungal kingdom. We screened a wide range of organisms representing the major orders of fungi using DNA amplification and subsequently sequenced a portion of the mitochondrial gene encoding the large subunit ribosomal RNA. Our data show that the opportunistic pulmonary pathogen P. carinii is closely related to the ustomycetous red yeast fungi, a group which includes organisms that are extensively distributed throughout the environment and which release many widely dispersed airborne spores.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Wakefield
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerji
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Bridge
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Hawksworth
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Guiver
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hopkin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D005289:Ferrets; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal