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Molecular identification, biofilm formation and antifungal susceptibility of Rhodotorula spp.

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Abstract

Luliconazole is an imidazole antifungal agent used in topical form for the treatment of onychomycosis and dermatophytosis. In vitro activity of luliconazole against dermatophytes, Candida, black fungi, Fusarium and Aspergillus species have been investigated. Rhodotorula spp. are environmental yeasts and emerged as opportunistic pathogens among immunocompromised patients. Rhodotorula’s human infections are usually resistant to treatment with antifungal drugs especially triazoles and echinocandins. The present study aimed at the molecular detection of environmental isolates of Rhodotorula spp. Then, antifungal efficacy of luliconazole was evaluated against isolates and compared to other routine systemic antifungals including; caspofungin, posaconazole, fluconazole, itraconazole, amphotericin B, and voriconazole. The biofilm production of Rhodotorula isolates was also evaluated. In this study, 39 isolates of Rhodotorula spp. were isolated from the environment, detected using molecular methods, and tested against luliconazole. Then, the anti-fungal activity of luliconazole compared with several routine antifungals. Also, biofilm formation by using a crystal violet staining assay was performed. Our finding showed that luliconazole has a very high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value (1–8 µg/ml) against Rhodotorula spp. Besides, 100% of Rhodotorula strains were resistant to caspofungin, followed by fluconazole 94.7% and voriconazole 74.4%. Amphotericin B was demonstrated excellent in vitro activity against this genus. Our result indicated that 59% of Rhodotorula spp. were in the mid-range of biofilm production. Our results indicated that luliconazole does not effective against the genus Rhodotorula. Furthermore, amphotericin B is the best drug against this genus in comparison to caspofungin and other azole drugs.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences for their support (OG: 9722).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Maral Gharaghani & Ali Zarei Mahmoudabadi

  2. Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

    Simin Taghipour

  3. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ali Zarei Mahmoudabadi

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  1. Maral Gharaghani
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Contributions

AZM: Study design, supervision, data interpretation, and manuscript editing. MG: Experimentation, Data collection, analysis, literature search, and manuscript writing. ST: Experimentation, Data collection, analysis, literature search, and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the manuscript in the present state.

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Correspondence to Ali Zarei Mahmoudabadi.

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Gharaghani, M., Taghipour, S. & Zarei Mahmoudabadi, A. Molecular identification, biofilm formation and antifungal susceptibility of Rhodotorula spp.. Mol Biol Rep 47, 8903–8909 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05942-1

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