Genetic diversity of Histoplasma and Sporothrix complexes based on sequences of their ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions from the BOLD System

Abstract High sensitivity and specificity of molecular biology techniques have proven usefulness for the detection, identification and typing of different pathogens. The ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) regions of the ribosomal DNA are highly conserved non-coding regions, and have been widely used in different studies including the determination of the genetic diversity of human fungal pathogens. This article wants to contribute to the understanding of the intra- and interspecific genetic diversity of isolates of the Histoplasma capsulatum and Sporothrix schenckii species complexes by an analysis of the available sequences of the ITS regions from different sequence databases. ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences of each fungus, either deposited in GenBank, or from our research groups (registered in the Fungi Barcode of Life Database), were analyzed using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. ML analysis of the ITS sequences discriminated isolates from distant geographic origins and particular wild hosts, depending on the fungal species analyzed. This manuscript is part of the series of works presented at the “V International Workshop: Molecular genetic approaches to the study of human pathogenic fungi” (Oaxaca, Mexico, 2012).