Sexual cycle of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and virulence of congenic a and alpha isolates.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcus neoformans is a human-pathogenic fungus that has evolved into three distinct varieties that infect most prominently the central nervous system. A sexual cycle involving haploid cells of a and alpha mating types has been reported for two varieties (C. neoformans var. neoformans, serotype D, and C. neoformans var. gattii, serotypes B and C), yet the vast majority of infections involve a distinct variety (C. neoformans var. grubii, serotype A) that has been thought to be clonal and restricted to the alpha mating type. We recently identified the first serotype A isolate of the a mating type which had been thought to be extinct (strain 125.91). Here we report that this unusual strain can mate with a subset of pathogenic serotype A strains to produce a filamentous dikaryon with fuse

SUBMITTER: Nielsen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC187335 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature