Grouping oral Candida species by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis

EAR Rosa, CV Pereira, RT Rosa and JF Hofling Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory, Dentistry Faculty of Piracicaba, State University of Campinas, Av. Limeira 901, CEP 13414-900, CP 52, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) and numerical taxonomic methods were used to establish the degrees of relatedness among five Candida species commonly isolated from humans oral cavities. Of twenty enzymic systems assayed, five showed no enzymic activity (aspartate dehydrogenase, mannitol dehydrogenase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, glucosyl transferase and alpha-amylase). The obtained data revealed that some of these enzymes are capable of distinguishing strains of different species, but most of them could not organize all strains in their respective species-specific clusters. Numerical classification based on MLEE polymorphism must be regarded for surveys involving just one Candida species.