A COMPARISON OF METHODS OF PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC FINGERPRINTING OFEXOPHIALA-DERMATITIDIS ISOLATED FROM SPUTUM SAMPLES OF PATIENTS WITH CYSTIC-FIBROSIS

Phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of 11 strains of Exophiala de rmatitidis were investigated, Ten strains (including three reference s trains) were isolated from sputum samples of six patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) in Germany, and one reference strain was isolated from a patient with phaeohyphomycosis in Japan, The strains showed differenc es in their ability to assimilate sorbitol, palatinose, rhamnose, gluc onate and melezitose, leading to the differentiation of seven auxotype s, The IC30 of amphotericin B, and ketoconazole and itraconazole, resp ectively, indicated susceptibility, whereas the IC30 of fluconazole an d 5-fluorocytosine indicated resistance in all strains, Protein patter ns in SDS-PAGE revealed no major differences, The glycoconjugate patte rns distinguished the Japanese strain from the other strains, Cluster analysis of whole-cell fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles with th e Microbial Identification System (MIS) revealed two major clusters se parating a reference strain and the Japanese strain from the other str ains, Analysis of patterns resulting from random amplification of poly morphic DNA (RAPD) with two arbitrary primers showed four genotypes, C omparison of the results revealed no agreement between the different f ingerprinting methods, except the separation of the Japanese strain fr om the European CF strains, As the results of assimilation tests seem to vary between different laboratories, the analysis of FAME profiles and RAPD analysis are recommended for typing E. dermatitidis.