The propagules of the fungal species Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii, whose varieties are distributed world wide, are the primary cause of cryptococcosis, a life threatening disease. The study of environmental and clinical isolates of Cryptococcosis is an important contribution to the epidemiology and ecology of the fungus. The aim of this work was to determine the presence of C. neoforma...

Cryptococcus isolates from AIDS patients in southern California were characterized by molecular analyses. Pheromone MFalpha1 and MFa1 gene fragments were polymerase chain reaction-amplified with fluorescently labeled primers and analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) on DNA analyzer. CE-fragment-length analyses (CE-FLAs) and CE-single-strand conformation polymorphisms (CE-SSCPs) were used t...

We found that the ingestion of Cryptococcus neoformans by Drosophila melanogaster resulted in the death of the fly but that the ingestion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae or the nonpathogenic Cryptococcus kuetzingii or Cryptococcus laurentii did not. The C. neoformans protein kinase A and RAS signal transduction pathways, previously shown to be involved in virulence in mammals, also played a role in...

A case of granulomatous leptomeningitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans is described in a 2-year-old mixedbreed, female goat which presented acute neurological signs including ataxia, nystagmus, bilateral blindness, opisthotonus, hyperesthesia, and spastic paresis of forelimbs. Granulomatous inflammation was detected in the pia arachnoid covering the frontal, parietal and occipital lobes of t...

BACKGROUND This article describes transmission of Cryptococcus neoformans by solid organ transplantation. METHODS We reviewed medical records and performed molecular genotyping of isolates to determine potential for donor transmission of Cryptococcus. RESULTS Cryptococcosis was diagnosed in 3 recipients of organs from a common donor with an undifferentiated neurologic condition at the time ...

A simple medium was developed, using esculin as the substrate, for the isolation and identification of Cryptococcus neoformans. C. neoformans produced a brown-black pigment on the medium; all other yeasts produced no pigment or were light yellow. Esculin is beta-glucose-6,7-dihydroxycoumarin. C. neoformans produced pigment because the 6,7-dihydroxycoumarin component of the esculin molecule was ...

Microbial lipid production by the oleaginous yeast Cryptococcus sp. was studied using glucose and cellulosic hydrolysate as carbon source, to realize the feasiblility of biodiesel production from high-lipid cell culture. The crude lipid contents of Debaryomyces nepalensis and Cryptococcus sp. cultured in YM Agar reached as high as 32-35 % on dry weight basis, which were higher than those of Pse...

Cryptococcus neoformans is a common cause of opportunistic infection in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and others with cell-mediated immunodeficiency, such as patients with solid-organ-transplant-related immunosuppression, patients receiving corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive therapy, and patients with lymphoid malignancy.1,2 The central nervous system (CNS) is the mos...

Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are globally distributed human fungal pathogens and the leading causes of fungal meningitis. Recent studies reveal that myo-inositol is an important factor for fungal sexual reproduction. That C. neoformans can utilize myo-inositol as a sole carbon source and the existence of abundant inositol in the human central nervous system suggest that inosi...

Cryptococcosis, caused by an encapsulated fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans, has emerged as a life threatening infection in HIV positive individuals and other immunocompromised hosts. The present review describes laccase and its product melanin as an important virulence factor of Cryptococcus neoformans and illustrates the approaches used in elucidating the pathogenesis of cryptococcosis. Charact...