RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Herkert, Patricia Fernanda A1 Meis, Jacques F. A1 Lucca de Oliveira Salvador, Gabriel A1 Rodrigues Gomes, Renata A1 Aparecida Vicente, Vania A1 Dominguez Muro, Marisol A1 Lameira Pinheiro, Rosangela A1 Lopes Colombo, Arnaldo A1 Vargas Schwarzbold, Alexandre A1 Sakuma de Oliveira, Carla A1 Simão Ferreira, Marcelo A1 Queiroz-Telles, Flávio A1 Hagen, FerryYR 2018 T1 Molecular characterization and antifungal susceptibility testing of Cryptococcus neoformans sensu stricto from southern Brazil JF Journal of Medical Microbiology, VO 67 IS 4 SP 560 OP 569 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000698 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1473-5644, AB Purpose. Cryptococcosis is acquired from the environment by the inhalation of Cryptococcus cells and may establish from an asymptomatic latent infection into pneumonia or meningoencephalitis. The genetic diversity of a Cryptococcus neoformans species complex has been investigated by several molecular tools, such as multi-locus sequence typing, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), restriction fragment length polymorphism and microsatellite analysis. This study aimed to investigate the genotype distributions and antifungal susceptibility profiles of C. neoformans sensu lato isolates from southern Brazil. Methodology. We studied 219 C. neoformans sensu lato isolates with mating- and serotyping, AFLP fingerprinting, microsatellite typing and antifungal susceptibility testing. Results/Key findings. Among the isolates, 136 (69 %) were from HIV-positive patients. Only C. neoformans mating-type α and serotype A were observed. AFLP fingerprinting analysis divided the isolates into AFLP1/VNI (n=172; 78.5 %), AFLP1A/VNII (n=19; 8.7 %), AFLP1B/VNII (n=4; 1.8 %) and a new AFLP pattern AFLP1C (n=23; 10.5 %). All isolates were susceptible to tested antifungals and no correlation between antifungal susceptibility and genotypes was observed. Through microsatellite analysis, most isolates clustered in a major microsatellite complex and Simpson’s diversity index of this population was D=0.9856. Conclusion. The majority of C. neoformans sensu stricto infections occurred in HIV-positive patients. C. neoformans AFLP1/VNI was the most frequent genotype and all antifungal drugs had high in vitro activity against this species. Microsatellite analyses showed a high genetic diversity within the regional C. neoformans sensu stricto population, and correlation between environmental and clinical isolates, as well as a temporal and geographic relationship., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000698