Differentiation of Rhizomucor species on the basis of their different sensitivities to lovastatin.
The opportunistic pathogens Rhizomucor pusillus and Rhizomucor miehei may be agents of frequently fatal mycotic diseases. In the present study, the susceptibilities of 27 clinical and environmental isolates of R. miehei and R. pusillus to lovastatin under different culturing conditions were investigated. Most of the R. miehei strains grew at lovastatin concentrations as high as 64 to 128 microg/ml. In contrast, the inhibitory effect of lovastatin on all of the R. pusillus strains was evident at lovastatin concentrations as low as 1 to 2 microg/ml. A simple and reliable method for species-level differentiation, based on the significantly higher sensitivity of R. pusillus to lovastatin than that of R. miehei, was elaborated. According this, on malt extract agar containing 6 mug of lovastatin/ml, R. pusillus is not able to produce colonies, while R. miehei will form compact colonies.
Lukács
Gyöngyi
G
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Szeged, P.O. Box 533, H-6701 Szeged, Hungary.
Papp
Tamás
T
Nyilasi
Ildikó
I
Nagy
Erzsébet
E
Vágvölgyi
Csaba
C
D003470:Culture Media; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008148:Lovastatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000382:microbiology; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D020103:Rhizomucor / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013045:Species Specificity
D003470:Culture Media; D008148:Lovastatin