Genotyping of Trichosporon asahii strains isolated from urinary tract infections in a Turkish university hospital

Authors: ZEYNEP CEREN KARAHAN, ESRA KOYUNCU, ISTAR DOLAPÇI, ÖZAY ARIKAN AKAN, FÜSUN CAN, ALPER TEKELİ

Abstract: Trichosporon infections are associated with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Trichosporon asahii is the most important species in the genus. Our aim was to evaluate the genotypic relatedness of urinary T. asahii strains isolated from immunocompetent patients during a hospital outbreak. Materials and methods: Twenty-three T. asahii isolates obtained from 15 patients hospitalized in different wards of Ankara University Ibn-i Sina Hospital between July 2004 and April 2005 were studied. T. asahii was identified by API 20C AUX (BioMérieux Vitek, Hazelwood, USA) system and confirmed by genus and species specific polymerase chain reactions. Genetic relatedness of the isolates was evaluated by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and repetitive element PCR (REP-PCR) analyses. Results: RAPD analysis divided the isolates into 5 groups. The results of REP-PCR correlated well with the data obtained by RAPD analysis, although this method produced 3 different groups. Conclusion: In this study of urinary trichosporonosis, 19 of the 23 isolates were found to be genotypically related, suggesting that a single genotype was prevalent in our hospital environment. The genotypically unrelated 4 isolates were probably of endogenous origin. RAPD and REP-PCR analyses can be used for genotyping T. asahii strains.

Keywords: Trichosporon asahii, genotyping

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