Abstract

The major human fungal pathogens are species from the genus Candida, especially Candida albicans. C. albicans sample preservation from human source is essential for clinical purposes and epidemiologic studies; however, little is known about its conservation for DNA extraction and analysis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare two storage conditions of C. albicans for performing DNA extraction and analysis. We collected samples from the intraoral palatal mucosa of patients with chronic atrophic candidiasis, and then assigned them into two groups for DNA extraction: Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) group samples taken from an SDA culture and the sterile buffering solution (SBS) group directly from the inoculum. We took C. albicans from samples stored in SBS and kept for two years at -80°C, and performed the DNA extraction with the Purgene DNA extraction kit for buccal cells. The means (standard deviation) for DNA extracted from C. albicans in SDA and SBS were, respectively, 16.62 ng/uL (10.53) and 9.732 ng/uL (2.342). In our qualitative evaluation, we observed no differences in band patterns between both treatment groups (SDA and SBS). The results show that SDA and SBS methods could preserve C. albicans’ DNA for extraction to evaluate quantitative and qualitative data.

Key words: Candida albicans, storage, DNA, DNA fungal.