Identification and phylogenetic relationship of the most common pathogenicCandida species inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences

We sequenced a 396-bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of the most common clinically important Candida species: Candida albicans, C. glab rata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. krusei, and C. lusitaniae. The rec ently described species of Candida, C, dubliniensis, associated,vith mucosa l candidiasis in human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals, was als o included. Two to five strains of each species were examined, Some species represented intraspecies variation, which was not more than 1.8% (DNA), Ho wever, interspecies variations were more than 10 and 7%, respectively, for DNA and amino acid sequences. Multiple alignments of nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences revealed species-specific nucleotides and amino acids , Nucleotide- and amino acid-based phylogenetic trees were constructed and are discussed. Using the database, it is possible to identify presumptive C andida species within a working day.