Exophiala is a ubiquitous pleomorphic genus comprising at least 40 species, many of which have been associated with superficial, visceral, or systemic infections in humans, other mammals, or cold-blooded animals. In this study, we investigated the potential of matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the identification of Exophiala species. A total of 89 isolates (including 50 human and 4 animal clinical isolates) stored in the National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi were identified by PCR amplification and sequencing of internal transcribed spacer region 1. Eighty-three of the isolates corresponded to 16 known species within Exophiala/Rhinocladiella The remaining six isolates are shown by phylogenetic analyses based on four loci to represent two novel Exophiala species. Four isolates from domestic bathrooms which form a sister species with Exophiala lecanii-corni are described here as Exophiala lavatrina sp. nov. The remaining two isolates, both from subcutaneous infections, are distantly related to Exophiala oligosperma and are described here as Exophiala campbellii sp. nov. The triazoles and terbinafine exhibited low MICs against all Exophiala isolates in vitro MALDI-TOF MS successfully distinguished all 18 species and identified all isolates after appropriate reference spectra were created and added to commercial databases. Intraspecific mean log scores ranged from 1.786 to 2.584 and were consistently significantly higher than interspecific scores (1.193 to 1.624), with the exception of E. lecanii-corni and E. lavatrina, for which there was considerable log score overlap. In summary, MALDI-TOF MS allows the rapid and accurate identification of a wide range of clinically relevant Exophiala species.
Keywords: DNA sequencing; Exophiala campbellii; Exophiala lavatrina; Exophiala species; MALDI-TOF; antifungal susceptibility; mass spectrometry; multigene phylogeny.
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