title: DNA barcoding of clinically relevant Cunninghamella species.
abstract: Mucormycosis caused, in part, by representatives of the genus Cunninghamella is a severe infection with high mortality in patients with impaired immunity. Several species have been described in the literature as etiologic agents. A DNA barcoding study using ITS rDNA and tef-1α provided concordance of molecular data with conventional characters. The currently accepted Cunninghamella species were well supported in phylogenetic trees of both markers except for C. septata with ITS that clustered in the C. echinulata clade. Sequence variability was distinctly higher for the ITS than for tef-1α. Intraspecific ITS variability of some of the species exceeded that between some closely related species, but the marker remained applicable for species identification. The most variable species for both markers was C. echinulata. Cunninghamella bertholletiae is the main pathogenic species; infections by C. blakesleeana, C. echinulata, and C. elegans are highly exceptional.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Medical Mycology, Peking University Health Science Center, Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knöll-Institute, Jena Microbial Resource Collection, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Van Diepeningen
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A H G
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Gerrits Van Den Ende
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Medical Mycology, Peking University Health Science Center, Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ruo-Yu
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Science (North Jeddah), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: T A A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Moussa
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Science (North Jeddah), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Almaghrabi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Medical Mycology, Peking University Health Science Center, Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Science (North Jeddah), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, Shanghai Institute of Medical Mycology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China, Basic Pathology Department, Federal University of Paraná State, Curitiba, Brazil de.hoog@cbs.knaw.nl.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: De Hoog
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D020093:Cunninghamella / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000382:microbiology; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1
keywords: Cunninghamella; ITS; mucormycosis; tef-1α