Genetic diversity in Blastomyces dermatitidis: implications for PCR detection in clinical and environmental samples.

ABSTRACT: Blastomycosis is a serious and potentially fatal infection caused by the thermally dimorphic fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays targeting the BAD-1 virulence gene promoter have been developed to aid in the detection of the pathogen in clinical and environmental samples. However, little is known regarding the genetic diversity of B. dermatitidis and how this might affect the performance characteristics of these assays. We explored the genetic relatedness of 106 clinical and environmental isolates of B. dermatitidis using a previously described rDNA PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. In addition, we looked for polymorphisms in the promoter region upstream of BAD-1. RFLP analysis showed that all isolates fell into one of five genoty

SUBMITTER: Meece JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3003939 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature