Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding author. Phone: Fax: E-mail: vanbelkum bacl. Short sequence repeats SSRs , potentially representing variable numbers of tandem repeat VNTR loci, were identified for the human-pathogenic yeast species Candida albicans by computerized DNA sequence scanning.
The individual SSR regions were investigated in different clinical isolates of C. Most of the C. They appeared to be present in multiple allelic variants and were demonstrated to be diverse in length among nonrelated strains.
As such, these loci provide adequate targets for the molecular typing of C. VNTRs encountered in other microbial species sometimes participate in regulation of gene expression and function as molecular switches at the transcriptional or translational level. Interestingly, the VNTRs identified here often encode polyglutamine stretches and are frequently located within genes potentially involved in the regulation of transcription. For these reasons, paired C. However, none of the VNTRs analyzed thus far varied systematically with the transition from colonization to invasion.
In contrast to the situation described for some prokaryotic species, this finding suggests that VNTRs of C. Candida albicans is a permanently diploid microorganism for which no sexual cycle has been described.
This medically relevant yeast species provides a typical example of an emerging pathogen: together with some other Candida spp. Despite the fact that a large proportion of humans are colonized with this yeast species 29 , invasive disease is generally limited to persons suffering from innate or therapy-induced immunodeficiencies.
