Candida auris Invasive Infections During a COVID-19 Case Surge

Clinical cases of C. auris noted during a COVID-19 surge led to an epidemiological, clinical, and genomic investigation. Evaluation identified a close genetic relationship but no conclusive epidemiologic link between all cases. Prolonged hospitalization due to critical illness from COVID-19 and use of antimicrobials may have contributed to clinical infections.

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Advanced genebank management of genetic resources of European wild apple, Malus sylvestris, using genome-wide SNP array data

Tree Genetics & Genomes ◽

10.1007/s11295-021-01513-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Joukje Buiteveld ◽

Herma JJ Koehorst-van Putten ◽

Linda Kodde ◽

Ivo Laros ◽

Giorgio Tumino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Resources ◽

Genetic Relationship ◽

Snp Array ◽

Seed Orchard ◽

Effective Population ◽

Malus Sylvestris ◽

Genebank Management ◽

Genetic Resources Management ◽

Genebank Collection ◽

Close Genetic Relationship

AbstractThe Netherlands’ field genebank collection of European wild apple (Malus sylvestris), consisting of 115 accessions, was studied in order to determine whether duplicates and mistakes had been introduced, and to develop a strategy to optimize the planting design of the collection as a seed orchard. We used the apple 20K Infinium single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, developed in M. domestica, for the first time for genotyping in M. sylvestris. We could readily detect the clonal copies and unexpected duplicates. Thirty-two M. sylvestris accessions (29%) showed a close genetic relationship (parent-child, full-sib, or half-sib) to another accession, which reflects the small effective population size of the in situ populations. Traces of introgression from M. domestica were only found in 7 individuals. This indicates that pollination preferentially took place among the M. sylvestris trees. We conclude that the collection can be considered as mainly pure M. sylvestris accessions. The results imply that it should be managed as one unit when used for seed production. A bias in allele frequencies in the seeds may be prevented by not harvesting all accessions with a close genetic relationship to the others in the seed orchard. We discuss the value of using the SNP array to elaborate the M. sylvestris genetic resources more in depth, including for phasing the markers in a subset of the accessions, as a first step towards genetic resources management at the level of haplotypes.

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The Fungal Cyp51-Specific Inhibitor VT-1598 DemonstratesIn VitroandIn VivoActivity againstCandida auris

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy ◽

10.1128/aac.02233-18 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Nathan P. Wiederhold ◽

Shawn R. Lockhart ◽

Laura K. Najvar ◽

Elizabeth L. Berkow ◽

Rosie Jaramillo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Specific Inhibitor ◽

Candida Auris ◽

Once Daily ◽

Content Type ◽

Fungal Burden ◽

Invasive Infections ◽

Trough Concentrations ◽

Dose Dependent

ABSTRACTCandida aurisis an emerging pathogen associated with significant mortality and often multidrug resistance. VT-1598, a tetrazole-based fungal CYP51-specific inhibitor, was evaluatedin vitroandin vivoagainstC. auris. Susceptibility testing was performed against 100 clinical isolates ofC. aurisby broth microdilution. Neutropenic mice were infected intravenously withC. auris, and treatment began 24 h postinoculation with a vehicle control, oral VT-1598 (5, 15, and 50 mg/kg of body weight once daily), oral fluconazole (20 mg/kg once daily), or intraperitoneal caspofungin (10 mg/kg once daily), which continued for 7 days. Fungal burden was assessed in the kidneys and brains on day 8 in the fungal burden arm and on the days the mice succumbed to infection or on day 21 in the survival arm. VT-1598 plasma trough concentrations were also assessed on day 8. VT-1598 demonstratedin vitroactivity againstC. auris, with a mode MIC of 0.25 μg/ml and MICs ranging from 0.03 to 8 μg/ml. Treatment with VT-1598 resulted in significant and dose-dependent improvements in survival (median survival, 15 and >21 days for VT-1598 at 15 and 50 mg/kg, respectively) and reductions in kidney and brain fungal burden (reductions of 1.88 to 3.61 log10CFU/g) compared to the control (5 days). The reductions in fungal burden correlated with plasma trough concentrations. Treatment with caspofungin, but not fluconazole, also resulted in significant improvements in survival and reductions in fungal burden compared to those with the control. These results suggest that VT-1598 may be a future option for the treatment of invasive infections caused byC. auris.

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Invasive Infections with Multidrug-Resistant Yeast Candida auris, Colombia

Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽

10.3201/eid2301.161497 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 162-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 114

Author(s):

Soraya E. Morales-López ◽

Claudia M. Parra-Giraldo ◽

Andrés Ceballos-Garzón ◽

Heidys P. Martínez ◽

Gerson J. Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multidrug Resistant ◽

Candida Auris ◽

Invasive Infections

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Close genetic relationship between central Thai and Mon people in Thailand revealed by autosomal microsatellites

International Journal of Legal Medicine ◽

10.1007/s00414-020-02290-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Suparat Srithawong ◽

Kanha Muisuk ◽

Metawee Srikummool ◽

Jatupol Kampuansai ◽

Pittayawat Pittayaporn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Relationship ◽

Close Genetic Relationship ◽

Autosomal Microsatellites

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Insights into the Unique Nature of the East Asian Clade of the Emerging Pathogenic Yeast Candida auris

Journal of Clinical Microbiology ◽

10.1128/jcm.00007-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Rory M. Welsh ◽

D. Joseph Sexton ◽

Kaitlin Forsberg ◽

Snigdha Vallabhaneni ◽

Anastasia Litvintseva

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

East Asian ◽

Candida Auris ◽

Pathogenic Yeast ◽

Content Type ◽

New Information ◽

Asian Clade ◽

Single Region ◽

Invasive Infections ◽

Unique Nature

ABSTRACT The emerging yeast Candida auris can be highly drug resistant, causing invasive infections, and large outbreaks. C. auris went from an unknown pathogen a decade ago to being reported in over thirty countries on six continents. C. auris consists of four discrete clades, based on where the first isolates of the clade were reported, South Asian (clade I), East Asian (clade II), African (clade III), and South American (clade IV). These clades have unique genetic and biochemical characteristics that are important to understand and inform the global response to C. auris. Clade II has been underrepresented in the literature despite being the first one discovered. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Y. J. Kwon et al. (J Clin Microbiol 57:e01624-18, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01624-18) describe the largest collection of clinical isolates from Clade II, which is also the longest-running span of clinical cases, 20 years, from any single region to date. Clade II appears to have a propensity for the ear that is uncharacteristic of the other clades, which typically cause invasive infections and large-scale outbreaks. This study provides new information on an understudied lineage of C. auris and has important implications for future surveillance.

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Tracing the genetic history of the ‘Cañaris’ from Ecuador and Peru using uniparental DNA markers

BMC Genomics ◽

10.1186/s12864-020-06834-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (S7) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

José R. Sandoval ◽

Daniela R. Lacerda ◽

Marilza M. S. Jota ◽

Paulo Robles-Ruiz ◽

Pierina Danos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mitochondrial Dna ◽

Y Chromosome ◽

Genetic Relationship ◽

Tandem Repeats ◽

Geographic Proximity ◽

Lake Titicaca ◽

Control Region Sequences ◽

History Of ◽

Historical Question ◽

Close Genetic Relationship

Abstract Background According to history, in the pre-Hispanic period, during the conquest and Inka expansion in Ecuador, many Andean families of the Cañar region would have been displaced to several places of Tawantinsuyu, including Kañaris, a Quechua-speaking community located at the highlands of the Province of Ferreñafe, Lambayeque (Peru). Other families were probably taken from the Central Andes to a place close to Kañaris, named Inkawasi. Evidence of this migration comes from the presence near the Kañaris–Inkawasi communities of a village, a former Inka camp, which persists until the present day. This scenario could explain these toponyms, but it is still controversial. To clarify this historical question, the study presented here focused on the inference of the genetic relationship between ‘Cañaris’ populations, particularly of Cañar and Ferreñafe, compared to other highland populations. We analysed native patrilineal Y chromosome haplotypes composed of 15 short tandem repeats, a set of SNPs, and maternal mitochondrial DNA haplotypes of control region sequences. Results After the genetic comparisons of local populations—three from Ecuador and seven from Peru—, Y chromosome analyses (n = 376) indicated that individuals from the Cañar region do not share Y haplotypes with the Kañaris, or even with those of the Inkawasi. However, some Y haplotypes of Ecuadorian ‘Cañaris’ were associated with haplotypes of the Peruvian populations of Cajamarca, Chivay (Arequipa), Cusco and Lake Titicaca, an observation that is congruent with colonial records. Within the Kañaris and Inkawasi communities there are at least five clans in which several individuals share haplotypes, indicating that they have recent common ancestors. Despite their relative isolation, most individuals of both communities are related to those of the Cajamarca and Chachapoyas in Peru, consistent with the spoken Quechua and their geographic proximity. With respect to mitochondrial DNA haplotypes (n = 379), with the exception of a shared haplotype of the D1 lineage between the Cañar and Kañaris, there are no genetic affinities. Conclusion Although there is no close genetic relationship between the Peruvian Kañaris (including Inkawasi) and Ecuadorian Cañar populations, our results showed some congruence with historical records.

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The Earth-Moon Connection

Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A ◽

10.1515/zna-1989-1004 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 44 (10) ◽

pp. 891-923 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. E. Ringwood

Keyword(s):

Genetic Relationship ◽

The Moon ◽

Core Formation ◽

Earth’S Mantle ◽

Terrestrial Atmosphere ◽

The Earth ◽

Wide Range ◽

Siderophile Elements ◽

The Impact ◽

Close Genetic Relationship

Abstract The early thermal state of the Earth provides important constraints on hypotheses relating to its origin and its connection with the Moon. The currently popular giant impact hypothesis of lunar origin requires the Earth’s mantle to have been completely melted during the impact. Differentiation of a molten mantle would have produced strong chemical and mineralogical stratification, causing the mantle to become gravitationally stable and resistant to convective rehomogenization. The resulting composition and mineralogy of the upper mantle and primitive crust would have been dramatically different from those which have existed during the past 3.8 b. y. It is concluded that the Earth’s mantle was not extensively melted at the conclusion of accretion of the planet and therefore the hypothesis that the Moon was formed by the impact of a martian-sized planetesimal on the proto-Earth is probably incorrect. Nevertheless, a wide range of geochemical evidence demonstrates the existence of a close genetic relationship between the Moon and the Earth’s mantle. The key evidence relates to the processes of core formation in planetary bodies and resultant abundance patterns of siderophile elements which remain in their silicate mantles. Because of the complexity of the core formation process within a given body and the multiplicity of chemical and physical processes involved, the mantle siderophile signature is expected to be a unique characteristic. Thus, the siderophile signatures of Mars and of the eucrite parent body are quite distinct from that of the Earth’s mantle. Lunar siderophile geochemistry is reviewed in detail. It is demonstrated that a large group of siderophile elements display similar abundances in the terrestrial and lunar mantles. The similarity implies that a major proportion of the material now in the Moon was derived from the Earth’s mantle after core formation. This implication, however, does not require that the bulk compositions of the lunar and terrestrial mantles should be essentially identical, as is often assumed. Factors which may contribute to significant compositional differences between the two bodies within the context of a close genetic relationship are reviewed. The most promising mechanism for removing terrestrial material from the Earth’s mantle arises from the impacts of a number of large (0.001 to 0.01 ME) but not giant (≥ 0.1 ME) planetesimals after core formation and at the terminal stage of the Earth’s accretion. These impacts evaporated several times their own masses of mantle material and shock-melted considerably more. However, they did not lead to complete or extensive (e.g. > 50%) melting of the entire mantle. Impact-generated clouds of shock-melted spray and vapours were accelerated to high velocities in the presence of a primitive terrestrial atmosphere that co-rotated with the Earth. This provided an effective means of transferring angular momentum from the Earth to the ejected material which condensed to form a ring of Earth-orbiting planetesimals and moonlets. The Moon was formed by coagulation from material derived from the outer regions of this ring. Accretion of the Earth in the presence of the gases of the solar nebula and the co-rotating primitive terrestrial atmosphere may also have provided a mechanism for generating the rapid prograde spin of the proto-Earth.

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Mating biology in Peniophora cinerea (Basidiomycetes)

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b92-218 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 70 (9) ◽

pp. 1758-1764 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Nils Hallenberg ◽

Ellen Larsson

Keyword(s):

Isoelectric Focusing ◽

Sibling Species ◽

Genetic Relationship ◽

Mating Test ◽

Banding Patterns ◽

Insect Gall ◽

Mating Biology ◽

Mating Tests ◽

Close Genetic Relationship ◽

Sterility Barrier

Mating tests were performed to analyze the genetic relationship between two intersterile sibling species in Peniophora cinerea (Fr.) Cooke in Europe. Two newly collected specimens from North Europe were found to be compatible with both sibling species, which strongly suggests a close genetic relationship and a sterility barrier of simple genetic origin. The two sibling species, which differ in their substrate selectivity, are accepted as subspecies. One subspecies is restricted to decorticated wood of Fagus, and occasionally the fruit bodies are associated with insect galls. Intersterility was also found in some combinations with two other specimens from Canada and Turkey, but no linkage was found with a particular substrate. Specimens from Taiwan were found to be partially compatible with specimens from Europe, Turkey, and Canada. Distinct differences between the subspecies were found in banding patterns from isoelectric focusing of buffer-soluble mycelial proteins. It is proposed that the kind of intersterility found here is intraspecific and should be looked upon as part of a propagation strategy. Key words: speciation, evolution, Basidiomycetes, isoelectric focusing, insect gall, mating test.

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Rapid and Accurate Molecular Identification of the Emerging Multidrug-Resistant Pathogen Candida auris

Journal of Clinical Microbiology ◽

10.1128/jcm.00630-17 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (8) ◽

pp. 2445-2452 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Milena Kordalewska ◽

Yanan Zhao ◽

Shawn R. Lockhart ◽

Anuradha Chowdhary ◽

Indira Berrio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Real Time Pcr ◽

Related Species ◽

Multidrug Resistant ◽

Candida Auris ◽

Content Type ◽

Invasive Infections ◽

Candida Lusitaniae ◽

Pcr Assays ◽

Phenotypic Tests

ABSTRACT Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen causing nosocomial and invasive infections associated with high mortality. C. auris is commonly misidentified as several different yeast species by commercially available phenotypic identification platforms. Thus, there is an urgent need for a reliable diagnostic method. In this paper, we present fast, robust, easy-to-perform and interpret PCR and real-time PCR assays to identify C. auris and related species: Candida duobushaemulonii , Candida haemulonii , and Candida lusitaniae . Targeting rDNA region nucleotide sequences, primers specific for C. auris only or C. auris and related species were designed. A panel of 140 clinical fungal isolates was used in both PCR and real-time PCR assays followed by electrophoresis or melting temperature analysis, respectively. The identification results from the assays were 100% concordant with DNA sequencing results. These molecular assays overcome the deficiencies of existing phenotypic tests to identify C. auris and related species.

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