Genetic relationships between Candida albicans strains isolated from dental plaque, trachea, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients - PubMed (original) (raw)

Genetic relationships between Candida albicans strains isolated from dental plaque, trachea, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients

Seok-Mo Heo et al. J Oral Microbiol. 2011.

Abstract

Candida albicans often resides in the oral cavity of healthy humans as a harmless commensal organism. This opportunistic fungus can cause significant disease in critically ill patients, such as those undergoing mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) having compromised local airway defense mechanisms. The goal of this study was to determine the intra- and inter-patient genetic relationship between strains of C. albicans recovered from dental plaque, tracheal secretions, and the lower airway by bronchoalveolar lavage of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. Three pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing methods were used to determine the genetic relatedness of the C. albicans strains, including electrophoretic karyotyping (EK) and restriction endonuclease analysis of the genome using SfiI (REAG-S) and BssHII (REAG-B). The C. albicans isolates from dental plaque and tracheo-bronchial sites from the same patient were genetically indistinguishable and retained over time, whereas strains from different patients usually separated into different genotypes. Among the three methods, REAG-B proved to be the most discriminatory method to differentiate isolates. The finding of genetically similar strains from the oral and tracheo-bronchial sites from the same patient supports the notion that the oral cavity may serve as an important source for C. albicans spread to the trachea and lung of mechanically ventilated patients.

Keywords: mechanical ventilation; molecular epidemiology; oral cavity; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE); yeast.

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Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 1

Electrophoretic karyotypes (EK) with dendrogram for Candida albicans isolates. A genetic similarity percentage is shown above the dendrogram. Patient identification (Pt ID), sample site (Source), and number of days after admission to the intensive care unit that the strain was isolated (Day) are included along each PFGE lane. Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA concatemers were used as the molecular size marker. Sizes are measured in megabases (Mb). C. albicans strain SC5314 (ATCC MYA-2876) was used as the control strain. Abbreviations: SG, supragingival dental plaque; TS, tracheal secretion; BL, bronchoalveolar lavage.

Fig. 2

Fig. 2

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of _Sfi_I restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA (REAG-S) with dendrogram for Candida albicans isolates. A genetic similarity percentage is shown above the dendrogram. Patient identification (Pt ID), sample site (Source), and number of days after admission to the intensive care unit that the strain was isolated (Day) are included along each PFGE lane. Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA concatemers and λ DNA ladder were used as size markers. Sizes are measured in kilobases (Kb). C. albicans strain SC5314 (ATCC MYA-2876) was used as the control strain. Abbreviations: SG, supragingival dental plaque; TS, tracheal secretion; BL, bronchoalveolar lavage.

Fig. 3

Fig. 3

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of _Bss_HII restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA (REAG-B) with dendrogram for Candida albicans isolates. A genetic similarity percentage is shown above the dendrogram. Patient identification (Pt ID), sample site (Source), and number of days after admission to the intensive care unit that the strain was isolated (Day) are included along each PFGE lane. Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA concatemers and λ DNA ladder were used as size markers. Sizes are measured in kilobases (Kb). C. albicans strain SC5314 (ATCC MYA-2876) was used as the control strain. Abbreviations: SG, supragingival dental plaque; TS, tracheal secretion; BL, bronchoalveolar lavage.

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