Sequencing of FKS Hot-Spot1 from Saprochaete capitata. Searching for a relationship with reduced echinocandin susceptibility. [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Saprochaete capitata, formerly known as Geotrichum capitatum, is an emerging fungal pathogen with low susceptibility to echinocandins. Here, we report the nucleotide sequence of the S. capitata Hot Spot 1 region of the FKS gene (FKS HS1) which codifies for the catalytic subunit of β-1,3-D-glucan synthase, the target of echinocandins. For that purpose, we firstly designed degenerated oligonucleotide primers derived from conserved flanking regions of the FKS1 HS1 segment of 12 different fungal species. Interestingly, the analysis of the translated FKS HS1 sequences of 12 isolates of S. capitata revealed that all of them exhibited the same substitution, F-to-L, in a position highly related to reduced echinocandins susceptibility.

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