Identification of Candida albicans clinical isolates by PCR amplification of an EFBI gene fragment containing an intron-interrupted open reading frame

The use of a single pair of primers, deduced from the intron and exon nucle otide sequences of the Candida albicans EFB1 gene, in polymerase chain reac tion (PCR) assays performed with whole cells of both laboratory strains and clinical isolates of Candida species, resulted in the species-specific amp lification of a 785 bp DNA fragment in C. albicans strains. Clinical C. alb icans isolates were tested, and 85 out of 86 generated the expected PCR-amp lified product; other Candida species, both laboratory strains and clinical isolates, as well as laboratory strains belonging to other fungal genera, including medically relevant taxa, failed to amplify any DNA fragment. In a ddition, unusual C. albicans isolates (glucosamine- and N-acetylglucosamine -negative) from Africa also yielded the expected PCR-generated DNA fragment . These results indicate that genes containing intron sequences may be usef ul to design species-specific primers for the identification of fungal stra ins by PCR.