Molecular Identification of Aspergillus Species Collected for the Transplant-Associated Infection Surveillance Network

Abstract

A large aggregate collection of clinical isolates of aspergilli (n ‫؍‬ 218) from transplant patients with proven or probable invasive aspergillosis was available from the Transplant-Associated Infection Surveillance Network, a 6-year prospective surveillance study. To determine the Aspergillus species distribution in this collection, isolates were subjected to comparative sequence analyses by use of the internal transcribed spacer and ␤-tubulin regions. Aspergillus fumigatus was the predominant species recovered, followed by A. flavus and A. niger. Several newly described species were identified, including A. lentulus and A. calidoustus; both species had high in vitro MICs to multiple antifungal drugs. Aspergillus tubingensis, a member of the A. niger species complex, is described from clinical specimens; all A. tubingensis isolates had low in vitro MICs to antifungal drugs.

Identification and Susceptibility of Aspergillus Section Nigri in China: Prevalence of Species and Paradoxical Growth in Response to Echinocandins

“…In recent years, sequence-based molecular methods have been used successfully for species identification in this group, particularly methods using the calmodulin gene, which can distinguish all species within section Nigri (4-6). Molecular studies indicated that several species in addition to A. niger were able to cause human infections; different regions had different species of pathogenic black Aspergillus, and A. niger and Aspergillus tubingensis were the most frequently identified pathogens in previous studies (2,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Additionally, it is worth noting in a clinical context that azoles exhibited different activity against the two species and that isolates from different geographical regions exhibited remarkable differences in susceptibility to azoles and amphotericin B (1-13, 15).…”

A Case Report on Aspergillus lentulus Pneumonia

“…According to the order of frequency, A. fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger were recently isolated as agents of invasive aspergillosis in our hospital (11). Isolations of A. lentulus defined in 2005 as a kind of new Aspergillus species were reported in America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Spain (9,12). The characteristics of some cases with colonisation or infection caused by A. lentulus in the literature are shown in Table 1 (3,8,9,13,14).…”

Fungal endophthalmitis associated with compounded products

“…CDC also performed confirmatory testing on fungal specimens from other laboratories, including a fungal isolate recovered by FDA from a BBG vial and fungal DNA isolated by an outside laboratory from a vitreous cassette specimen. Fungal isolates were identified by morphologic and DNA sequence analysis (15). Fusarium isolates were compared by multilocus sequence analysis (16); species of Bipolaris isolates were identified by examination of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (15).…”

“…Fungal isolates were identified by morphologic and DNA sequence analysis (15). Fusarium isolates were compared by multilocus sequence analysis (16); species of Bipolaris isolates were identified by examination of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (15).…”