Genetic diversity assessed using PFGE, MLP and MLST in Candida spp. candidemia isolates obtained from a Brazilian hospital

• Published in: Brazilian journal of microbiology Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 503 - 516
• Main Authors: Canela, Heliara Maria Spina, Cardoso, Bárbara, Frazão, Miliane Rodrigues, Falcão, Juliana Pfrimer, Vitali, Lucia Helena, Martinez, Roberto, da Silva Ferreira, Márcia Eliana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Bacterial; Bacterial, Fungal and Virus Molecular Biology - Research Paper; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brazil; Candida; Candida - classification; Candida - genetics; Candida - isolation & purification; Candidemia; Candidemia - blood; Candidemia - microbiology; Child; Child, Preschool; Diploids; Electrophoresis; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Epidemiology; Female; Food Microbiology; Fungal and Virus Molecular Biology - Research Paper; Gel electrophoresis; Gene polymorphism; Genetic analysis; Genetic diversity; Genetic relationship; Genetic variability; Genetic Variation; Hospitals - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Immunocompromised hosts; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Life Sciences; Male; Medical Microbiology; Microbial Ecology; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microsatellites; Middle Aged; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Mycological Typing Techniques; Mycology; Patients; Phylogeny; Polymorphism; Public health; Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Young Adult; Brazil; Microsatellite length polymorphism; spp; Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Candidemia; Multilocus sequence typing; Candida spp
• ISSN: 1517-8382; 1678-4405
• DOI: 10.1007/s42770-021-00446-x

Candida spp. are the main causative agents of invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised patients. Candidemia has attributable mortality rates of 15 to 35% and increases hospitalisation time and costs, thus making this disease a public health concern. This study aimed to use pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), microsatellite length polymorphism (MLP) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to analyse the genetic relationships among 65 Candida spp. bloodstream isolates, including 35 Candida albicans , 15 Candida glabrata and 15 Candida tropicalis isolates, all of which were obtained from patients in a Brazilian hospital. Moreover, patient clinical data were assessed. All techniques resulted in high discriminatory indexes. C. albicans and C. tropicalis isolates showed high genetic variability, while C. glabrata isolates had relatively low genetic variability. Moreover, a cluster of C. glabrata isolates was identified in a hospital unit. New MLST sequence types, diploid sequence types and alleles are described. Relationships were not observed between the molecular typing results and clinical characteristics. The molecular typing of clinical strains increases our understanding of candidemia epidemiology and promotes the development of strategies that can reduce the incidence of this disease. Moreover, this study is the first to combine these techniques to genotype these three species in Brazil.