A new type of DNA polymorphism identified in the species-specific DNA region originating from the Candida albicans mitochondrial genome.
Mitochondrial DNA of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans contains a species-specific DNA region, designated EO3, within the duplicated region in its stem-and-loop structure, as reported in our previous paper. We have revealed that the EO3 region exhibits a DNA-size polymorphism, yielding three fragment length types: L, M, and S. This polymorphism is due to the presence (or absence) of two small nucleotide sequences of ~50 bp (designated a and b) within the EO3 region: type L possesses both a and b, type M possesses a alone, and type S possesses neither a nor b. Here we have identified a new type of EO3, which possesses b but not a, designated type M-II. Restriction fragment analyses with BglII revealed accurate discrimination of EO3 into four types: L, M-I, M-II, and S. Moreover, we show that these small nucleotide segments a and b were encompassed by the characteristic nucleotide sequence with a common inverted repeat structure. In the present report we propose a revised version of EO3 typing, suggesting epidemiological usefulness as an alternative tool for species-specific detection of C. albicans, and discuss the potentiality of EO3 for generating more variations of DNA polymorphism.
Miyakawa
Yozo
Y
Division of Biotechnology, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan. ymiya@yamanashi.ac.jp
Ozawa
Takuya
T
D001483:Base Sequence; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D005838:Genotype; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial