title: Comparison of four molecular typing methods to assess genetic relatedness of Candida albicans clinical isolates in Taiwan.
abstract: This report describes the investigation of the genetic profiles of 53 Candida albicans isolates collected from 18 hospitals in Taiwan using three PFGE-based typing methods (PFGE karyotyping, and PFGE of SfiI and BssHII restriction fragments) and one repetitive-sequence-PCR (rep-PCR) method. All four methods were able to identify clonal related isolates from the same patients. PFGE-BssHII exhibited the highest discriminatory power by discriminating 40 genotypes, followed by PFGE-SfiI (35 genotypes) and then by rep-PCR (31 genotypes), while PFGE karyotyping exhibited the lowest discriminatory power (19 genotypes). High discriminatory power can also be achieved by combining typing methods with different typing mechanisms, such as rep-PCR and PFGE-based typing methods. The results also showed that the genotype of each isolate was patient-specific and not associated with the source of the isolation, geographic origin or antifungal resistance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Mycopathogens, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma, Division of Laboratory Research and Development, Center for Disease Control, 161 Kun-Yang Street, Nan-Kang District, Taipei 115, Taiwan 2Division of Clinical Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kuo-Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Mycopathogens, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma, Division of Laboratory Research and Development, Center for Disease Control, 161 Kun-Yang Street, Nan-Kang District, Taipei 115, Taiwan 2Division of Clinical Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiu-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Mycopathogens, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma, Division of Laboratory Research and Development, Center for Disease Control, 161 Kun-Yang Street, Nan-Kang District, Taipei 115, Taiwan 2Division of Clinical Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Mycopathogens, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma, Division of Laboratory Research and Development, Center for Disease Control, 161 Kun-Yang Street, Nan-Kang District, Taipei 115, Taiwan 2Division of Clinical Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shu-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002176:Candida albicans / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping / Q000379:methods; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping / Q000379:methods; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology