RAPID PRESUMPTIVE IDENTIFICATION OF MEDICALLY RELEVANT YEASTS TO THE SPECIES LEVEL BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION AND RESTRICTION ENZYME ANALYSIS

A method for the rapid presumptive differentiation of a panel of 12 cl inically relevant yeasts to the species level was developed on the bas is of evaluation by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the gene co ding for the small ribosomal subunit 18S-rRNA. The method involved res triction enzyme analysis of PCR products obtained with primers common to all fungi. Using six restriction enzymes, AluI, BanI, BbsI, DraII, Eco147I and NheI, characteristic PCR-restriction enzyme patterns were obtained for Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei, Can dida kefyr, Candida lusitaniae, Candida guilliermondii, Candida glabra ta and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as for the pairs Candida para psilosis/Candida viswanathii and Trichosporon beigelii/Cryptococcus ne oformans. The procedure does not involve hybridization steps or the us e of radioactivity and can be completed within one working day.