Schizophyllum radiatum, an Emerging Fungus from Human Respiratory Tract

J Clin Microbiol. 2016 Oct;54(10):2491-7. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01170-16. Epub 2016 Jul 20.

Abstract

Schizophyllum is an important genus of basidiomycetes that, apart from being of genetic and biotechnological interest, is also reported to be a plant and animal pathogen. Schizophyllum commune is the best-known species and the only one reported from clinical specimens thus far, being recovered mainly from the respiratory tract. The aim of this study was to determine the species diversity of 23 clinical isolates of Schizophyllum from the United States using multilocus phylogenetic analysis and their in vitro susceptibilities to six drugs. The markers used for sequencing were the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), a portion of the nuclear large subunit (LSU) of ribosomal DNA, the RNA polymerase II second-largest subunit (RPB2), and the translation elongation factor 1α (EF-1α) gene. The analyses revealed that 22 of the clinical isolates were in the Schizophyllum radiatum clade with high support values and 1 isolate was in the S. commune clade. This is the first report of this species in clinical samples. The two species mentioned above showed very similar morphological features in culture (i.e., white, cottony, unsporulated colonies composed of hyphae with clamp connections), making morphological discrimination between the two impossible. An epitype is designed for S. radiatum, and its sequences have been deposited in GenBank. The antifungal that showed the greatest in vitro activity against the strains tested was shown to be amphotericin B. In general, the strains of S. radiatum showed higher MICs than S. commune.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
  • Communicable Diseases, Emerging / microbiology*
  • DNA, Fungal / chemistry
  • DNA, Fungal / genetics
  • DNA, Ribosomal / chemistry
  • DNA, Ribosomal / genetics
  • DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / chemistry
  • DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / genetics
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Multilocus Sequence Typing
  • Mycological Typing Techniques
  • Mycoses / microbiology*
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / genetics
  • RNA Polymerase II / genetics
  • Respiratory System / microbiology*
  • Respiratory Tract Infections / microbiology*
  • Schizophyllum / classification
  • Schizophyllum / drug effects
  • Schizophyllum / genetics
  • Schizophyllum / isolation & purification*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • United States

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • DNA, Fungal
  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1
  • RNA Polymerase II