The number of spoilage incidents in the food industry attributable to a species of the genus Moniliella has recently increased, but the risk of food spoilage has not yet been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to rapidly identify high-risk species and to conduct a risk analysis study of Moniliella spp. Acetic acid resistance of M. acetoabutens and ethanol resistance of M. suaveolens were higher than for other Moniliella species. All examined strains of M. acetoabutens developed a high tolerance to acetic acid by being cultured twice in liquid media containing low concentrations of acetic acid. These findings indicate that M. acetoabutens and M. suaveolens are high-risk species for food spoilage and must be discriminated from other fungi. We developed species-specific primers to identify M. acetoabutens and M. suaveolens using the polymerase chain reaction PCR to amplify the D1/D2 domain of 28S rDNA. The PCR using the primer sets designed for M. acetoabutens Mac_F1/R1 and M. suaveolens Msu_F1/R1 was specific to the target species and did not detect other fungi involved in food spoilage or environmental contamination. This method is expected to be effective for the monitoring of raw materials and components of the food production process.Key words Acetic acid resistance / Adaptation / Ethanol resistance / Moniliella / Rapid identification. INTRODUCTIONHeat-resistant fungi, typically ascomycetes, are major causative agents of food spoilage incidents in heated foods Hosoya et al., 2012Hosoya et al., , 2014Nakayama et al., 2010; Yaguchi et al., 2012 , while Thanh et al., 2012 . Therefore, the food industry has focused a great deal of attention on the control of the genus Moniliella. T. YAGUCHI ET AL. 74and the development of technology to rapidly identify high-risk species are necessary.The aims of this study were to 1 evaluate the resistance to acetic acid, ethanol, and their combination, and 2 investigate whether Moniliella spp. adapt and develop tolerance with repeated culturing on media containing acetic acid and/or ethanol. In addition, to identify high-risk species, we designed specific primers at the species level and used these primers to develop a rapid and versatile identification method. MATERIALS AND METHODS Test fungal strains and culturesThe fungal strains used in this test were provided by the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures CBS, English translation: Central Bureau of Fungal Cultures . The test strains used in this study from the genus Moniliella were mainly isolated from spoiled foods and food manufacturing environments, and are organized by the CBS strain numbers are shown in Table 1 . These test fungal strains were cultured on potato dextrose agar Difco Laboratories, Inc. media at 25 in the dark for 3 to 5 days.To prevent food spoilage by fungi, high-risk species must be identified Hitokoto et al., 1987;Morozumi, 1988 . The risk of food spoilage by the genus Moniliella has not been evaluated to date. To prevent food spoilage incidents due to Moniliella spp., high-ri...

Background:Candida albicans (C. albicans) can become a pathogen causing superficial as well as life-threatening systemic infections, especially in immunocompromised patients. Many phenotypic attributes contribute to its capacity to colonize human organs. In our study, 93 C. albicans isolates from patients of various candidiasis in a hospital of China were surveyed. We aimed to investigate the white-opaque (WO) switching competence, drug sensitivity, and virulence of mating type-like (MTL) a/α isolates.Methods:Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene and the MTL configuration were detected in all the isolates by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. White/opaque phenotype and doubling time of cell growth were determined. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of antifungal agent were measured using broth microdilution method.Results:Sixty-four isolates (69.6%) were classified to serotype A, 19 (20.6%) to serotype B, and 9 (9.8%) to serotype C. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis showed that these isolates were divided into four different subgroups of ITS genotypes. Most of our clinical isolates were MTLa/α type, while 6.8% remained MTLa or MTLα type. The frequency of opaque phenotype was 71.0% (66 isolates). Following the guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute M27-A3, all isolates were susceptible to caspofungin and a few (0.6–3.2%) of them showed resistance against amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, and voriconazole.Conclusions:From these analyses, there were comparatively more C. albicans strains classified into serotype B, and the frequency of opaque phase strains was significant in the clinical isolates from China. Genetic, phenotypic, or drug susceptibility patterns were not significantly different from previous studies. MTLa/α isolates could also undergo WO switching which facilitates their survival.