title: Evidence for a general-purpose genotype in Candida albicans, highly prevalent in multiple geographical regions, patient types and types of infection.
abstract: Epidemiological studies, using the probe Ca3, have shown that in a given patient population a single cluster of genetically related Candida albicans isolates usually predominates. The authors have investigated whether these local clusters are part of a single group, geographically widespread and highly prevalent as an aetiological agent of various types of candidiasis. An unrooted neighbour-joining tree of 266 infection-causing C. albicans isolates (each from a different individual) from 12 geographical regions in 6 countries was created, based on genetic distances generated by Ca3 fingerprinting. Thirty-seven per cent of all isolates formed a single genetically homogeneous cluster (cluster A). The remainder of isolates were genetically diverse. Using the maximum branch length within cluster A as a cut-off, they could be divided into 37 groups, whose prevalence ranged between 0.3% and 9%. Strains from cluster A were highly prevalent in all but one geographical region, with a mean prevalence across all regions of 41%. When isolates were separated into groups based on patient characteristics or type of infection, strains from cluster A had a prevalence exceeding 27% in each group, and their mean prevalence was 43% across all patient characteristics. These data provide evidence that cluster A constitutes a general-purpose genotype, which is geographically widespread and acts as a predominant aetiological agent of all forms of candidiasis in all categories of patients surveyed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herd
authors.affiliation: Public Health Laboratory, Countess of Chester Health Park, Chester , UK2.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Sciences and Orthodontics, University of Otago , New Zealand3.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Cannon
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , Malaysia4.
authors.forename: M Salleh M
authors.initials: MSM
authors.lastname: Yasin
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , Malaysia4.
authors.forename: Shamin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samad
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Division, Wellington Hospital, Wellington, New Zealand5.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, Auckland Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand6.
authors.forename: Dinah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parr
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, Auckland Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand6.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McKinney
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch , New Zealand7.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schousboe
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch , New Zealand7.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Medlab South Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand8.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ikram
authors.affiliation: Medlab South Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand8.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Corporacion para Investigaciones Biologicas, Medellin, Colombia 9.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Restrepo
authors.affiliation: Corporacion para Investigaciones Biologicas, Medellin, Colombia 9.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoyos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, CWM Hospital, Suva, Fiji 10.
authors.forename: Kumar P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D002176:Candida albicans / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal