title: Recognition of seven species in the Cryptococcus gattii/Cryptococcus neoformans species complex.
abstract: Phylogenetic analysis of 11 genetic loci and results from many genotyping studies revealed significant genetic diversity with the pathogenic Cryptococcus gattii/Cryptococcus neoformans species complex. Genealogical concordance, coalescence-based, and species tree approaches supported the presence of distinct and concordant lineages within the complex. Consequently, we propose to recognize the current C. neoformans var. grubii and C. neoformans var. neoformans as separate species, and five species within C. gattii. The type strain of C. neoformans CBS132 represents a serotype AD hybrid and is replaced. The newly delimited species differ in aspects of pathogenicity, prevalence for patient groups, as well as biochemical and physiological aspects, such as susceptibility to antifungals. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry readily distinguishes the newly recognized species.
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Basidiomycete and Yeast Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Canisius-Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ferry
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Basidiomycete and Yeast Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Phayao, Phayao, Thailand.
authors.forename: Kantarawee
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khayhan
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Basidiomycete and Yeast Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Theelen
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Basidiomycete and Yeast Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kolecka
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Itzhack
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Polacheck
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Food Quality & Safety, Institute for Postharvest and Food Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sionov
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nir-David, Israel.
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Falk
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
authors.forename: Sittiporn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parnmen
authors.affiliation: Science & Education, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: H Thorsten
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lumbsch
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Basidiomycete and Yeast Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Medical Mycology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China; Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: t.boekhout@cbs.knaw.nl.
authors.forename: Teun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boekhout
mesh_terms: D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D058889:Molecular Typing; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
keywords: Cryptic species; Cryptococcus gattii; Cryptococcus neoformans; Pathogen; Taxonomy; Yeast