Phenotypic and molecular identification of Fonsecaea pedrosoi strains isolated from chromoblastomycosis patients in Mexico and Venezuela

O. Carolina Rojas, Rafael B.R. León-Cachón, Antonio Alí Pérez-Maya, Marcelino Aguirre-Garza, María G. Moreno-Treviño, Gloria M. González*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Chromoblastomycosis is a chronic granulomatous disease caused frequently by fungi of the Fonsecaea genus. The objective of this study was the phenotypic and molecular identification of F. pedrosoi strains isolated from chromoblastomycosis patients in Mexico and Venezuela. Ten strains were included in this study. For phenotypic identification, we used macroscopic and microscopic morphologies, carbohydrate assimilation test, urea hydrolysis, cixcloheximide tolerance, proteolitic activity and the thermotolerance test. The antifungal activity of five drugs was evaluated against the isolates. Molecular identification was performed by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA regions of the isolated strains. The physiological analysis and morphological features were variable and the precise identification was not possible. All isolates were susceptible to itraconazole, terbinafine, voriconazole and posaconazole. Amphotericin B was the least effective drug. The alignment of the 559-nucleotide ITS sequences from our strains compared with sequences of GenBank revealed high homology with F. pedrosoi (EU285266.1). In this study, all patients were from rural areas, six from Mexico and four from Venezuela. Ten isolates were identified by phenotypic and molecular analysis, using ITS sequence and demonstrated that nine isolates from Mexico and Venezuela were 100% homologous and one isolate showed a small genetic distance.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)267-272
    Number of pages6
    JournalMycoses
    Volume58
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015

    All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

    • Dermatology
    • Infectious Diseases

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