A highly polymorphic degenerate microsatellite for molecular strain typing of Candida krusei.
Simple sequence repeats, due to their high variability, are widely used for molecular epidemiology of pathogenic micro-organisms. However, their usefulness is restricted by their high instability and low information content. Here, a locus, CKTNR, in the fungal pathogen Candida krusei is described which displays considerable sequence, as well as length, heterogeneity. Alleles of this locus, which contains a degenerate trinucleotide repeat, appear to be stable. The CKTNR polymorphism could serve as the basis for a molecular typing system of C. krusei. Furthermore, analysis of the CKTNR allele distribution suggested that C. krusei reproduces mainly clonally.
Shemer
Revital
R
Department of Molecular Microbiology, B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine1, and Department of Clinical Microbiology2, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa 31096, Israel.
Weissman
Ziva
Z
Department of Molecular Microbiology, B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine1, and Department of Clinical Microbiology2, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa 31096, Israel.
Hashman
Nehama
N
Department of Molecular Microbiology, B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine1, and Department of Clinical Microbiology2, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa 31096, Israel.
Kornitzer
Daniel
D
Department of Molecular Microbiology, B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine1, and Department of Clinical Microbiology2, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa 31096, Israel.
D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics*