IDENTIFICATION BY RANDOM AMPLIFICATION OF POLYMORPHIC DNA OF A COMMONMOLECULAR TYPE OF CRYPTOCOCCUS-NEOFORMANS VAR NEOFORMANS IN PATIENTS WITH AIDS OR OTHER IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE CONDITIONS

Sixty clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans var, neoformans wer e analyzed by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) using 12- to 22-mer primers in pairs, Five major profiles, which clearly distin guished between serotypes A (profiles I-III), AD (profile IV), and D ( profile V), were identified, Forty-two of 58 serotype A isolates were assigned to profile I, 13 to profile II, and 3 to profile III. Profile I comprised 5 subtypes (profiles Ia-Ie), with 37 of 42 isolates in pr ofile Ia, Twenty-seven of 28 isolates from patients with AIDS belonged to profile Ia (P < .001), as did 7 of 10 isolates from otherwise immu nocompromised patients, Isolates from immunocompetent hosts were broad ly distributed (profile I, 8 isolates; profile II, 10 isolates; profil e III, 2 isolates). RAPD profiles were independent of body site and ge ographic origin of isolates. Isolate pairs from 3 patients produced id entical profiles. A predominant genetic profile among serotype A strai ns from AIDS patients has not been reported previously.