Comparison of morphotypic and genotypic methods for strain delineation inCandida

Summary. We compared two phenotypic methods, colony morphotyping on Sabouraud-tripheniltetrazolium agar (STTZ) and serotyping, with two genotypic methods, karyotyping and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA bands obtained by PCR amplification (RAPD-PCR), for strain delineation in 33 Candida clinical isolates and two C. albicans strains from culture collections. Analysis of isolates on STTZ showed 11 different morphotypes. In two patients there was a switch in the morphotype coincidential with a change in the susceptibility of the isolates to azole antifungals. C. albicans isolates were divided into two serotypes. Sixteen and 18 different patterns were identified among the Candida isolates by k…