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Identification of pathogenic fungal isolates by ITS sequencing

In clinical microbiology laboratories, the conventional method for identification of pathogenic fungi is based on fungal culture and observation of fungal phenotypic characters. However, it is time-consuming, subjective and unreliable due to the long incubation period and variations in fungal colony morphology. Thus, there is a need for a rapid, objective and accurate identification of pathogenic fungal isolates. ITS regions are most commonly used targets for molecular identification of fungal pathogens because of the optimal inter- and intra-species variations and large copies in fungal genome. In this study, twenty-two clinical fungal isolates were identified using the phenotypic method and ITS sequencing. The results showed that there were only thirteen isolates identified to species level by phenotypic method, while others were only differentiated in genus level. Due to the poor differentiation based on the conventional phenotypic approach, misidentification of fungal pathogens occasionally occurred. However, ITS sequencing successfully achieved accurate species-level identification of all fungal isolates. The results were demonstrated in phylogenetic trees with high bootstrap support. In conclusion, ITS sequencing is a rapid and reliable for the identification of pathogenic fungal isolates. / published_or_final_version / Microbiology / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/193540
Date January 2013
CreatorsLau, Ching-lai, 劉清麗
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Source SetsHong Kong University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypePG_Thesis
RightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
RelationHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)

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