Yeasts of the genus Candida have high genetic variability and are
the most common opportunistic pathogenic fungi in humans. In this study, we evaluated
the genetic diversity among 120 isolates of Candida spp. obtained
from diabetic patients, kidney transplant recipients and patients without any immune
deficiencies from Paraná state, Brazil. The analysis was performed using the
ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and a partial sequence of 28S rDNA. In the phylogenetic
analysis, we observed a consistent separation of the species C.
albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata,
C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C.
metapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis, however with low
intraspecific variability. In the analysis of the C. albicans
species, two clades were formed. Clade A included the largest number of isolates
(91.2%) and the majority of isolates from GenBank (71.4%). The phylogenetic analysis
showed low intraspecific genetic diversity, and the genetic polymorphisms between
C. albicans isolates were similar to genetic divergence found in
other studies performed with isolates from Brazil. This low genetic diversity of
isolates can be explained by the geographic proximity of the patients evaluated. It
was observed that yeast colonisation was highest in renal transplant recipients and
diabetic patients and that C. albicans was the species most
frequently isolated.