Molecular Typing of Clinical Cryptococcus gattii Isolates in Korea

Cryptococcus gattii causes life-threatening yeast infection in the pulmonary and central nervous systems of humans and animals, and traditionally has been considered to restrict into the tropical and subtropical areas. Despite rare incidence of cryptococcosis caused by C. gattii in Korea, three strains of C. gattii isolated from cryptococcosis patients between 1993 and 2010 were identified. To determine the genetic diversity, 3 strains of C. gattii were typed using PCR fingerprinting with primer M13 and the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of orotidine monophosphosphate pyrophosphorylase (URA5) gene. All isolates were identified as serotype B and MATα mating type. The molecular types of each strain, on the other hand, turned out to be distinct belonging to VGI, VGII or III types, respectively. Although the travel histories of the patients were not available, clinical C. gattii strains isolated in Korea may represent the diverse molecular types existing worldwide.