title: DNA barcoding of fungi causing infections in humans and animals.
abstract: Correct species identification is becoming increasingly important in clinical diagnostics. Till now, many mycological laboratories rely on conventional phenotypic identification. But this is slow and strongly operator-dependent. Therefore, to improve the quality of pathogen identification, rapid, reliable, and objective identification methods are essential. One of the most encouraging approaches is molecular barcoding using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the rDNA, which is rapid, easily achievable, accurate, and applicable directly from clinical specimens. It relies on the comparison of a single ITS sequence with a curated reference database. The International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) working group for DNA barcoding has recently established such a database, focusing on the majority of human and animal pathogenic fungi (ISHAM-ITS, freely accessible at http://www.isham.org/ or directly from http://its.mycologylab.org). For some fungi the use of secondary barcodes may be necessary.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Sydney Medical School - Westmead Hospital, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, The University of Sydney, Westmead Millennium Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Irinyi
authors.affiliation: Division of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lackner
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, 3508 AD, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G Sybren
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: de Hoog
authors.affiliation: Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Sydney Medical School - Westmead Hospital, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, The University of Sydney, Westmead Millennium Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: wieland.meyer@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Wieland
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D009181:Mycoses / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: DNA barcoding; Fungal identification; ITS region; Intraspecies/interspecies genetic diversity; Pathogenic fungi; Reference ITS database