Abstract

Two Candida species were identified by the amplification of the RPS0 gene intron fragment. For this, two pairs of primers were used in PCR analysis performed with genomic DNA of clinical isolates of Candida. The primers designed are highly specific for their respective species and produce amplicons of the expected sizes and fail to amplify any DNA fragment from the other species tested. For Candida glabrata, the size of the amplicon was 406 and 150 bp for C. parapsilosis. The designed primers were able to amplify all C. glabrata isolates. One of three C. parapsilosis strains was confirmed as C. orthopsilosis, when we used the designed oligonucleotides. The used primers cannot amplify the other Candida species such as C. albicans. These results indicate that sequences of intron genes can be useful to specifically identify Candida strains by PCR. This molecular identification will be considered as an early identification of Candida species responsible for all candidiasis. 

Key words: Candida glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. orthopsilosis, PCR- identification, RPS0 intron.