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J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.01451-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Debaryomyces hansenii (Candida famata): a rare human fungal pathogen often misidentified as Pichia guilliermondii (Candida guilliermondii)

Institut Pasteur, Centre National de Référence Mycologie et Antifongiques, Unité de Mycologie Moléculaire, CNRS URA 3012, Paris, France; Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Utrecht, The Netherlands

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: dromer{at}pasteur.fr.

	Abstract

Debaryomyces hansenii is a hemiascomycetous yeast commonly found in natural substrates and in various types of cheese. Pichia guilliermondii is widely distributed in nature and is a common constituent of the normal human microflora. Both species have been described in human infections but are extremely difficult to differentiate phenotypically. Thus, frequent errors in the identification occur. The 62 clinical and environmental isolates sent between 2000 and 2007 to the French National Reference Center for Mycoses and Antifungals as D. hansenii or P. guilliermondii were analysed using carbon assimilation pattern, presence of pseudohyphae and sequencing of ITS and D1/D2 regions of the rRNA gene. The objective of the study was to assess using nucleotide sequences whether phenotypic identification was correct and whether phenotypic characteristics could be used to differentiate the two species when sequencing was not available. We found that 58% of the isolates were misidentified and belong to 7 different species: P. guilliermondii, P. caribbica, P. jadinii, D. hansenii, Candida palmioleophila, C. haemulonii type II and Clavispora lusitaniae. In conclusion, D. hansenii may not be as frequent a human pathogen as previously thought. Sequencing of either ITS or D1/D2 regions is a good tool to differentiate the species more frequently confused with D. hansenii keeping in mind that reliable databases should be used.