Isolation of fungal rDNA from bottlenose dolphin skin infected with Loboa loboi.

Fungal-specific primers targeted for highly conserved genomic nucleic acid sequences were used in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify DNA from lobomycosis lesions in a bottlenose dolphin. Sequence alignments of this DNA possessed high homology to fungal ribosomal DNA sequences found in the genus Cladosporium. When used for in situ hybridization, the riboprobe transcribed from a cloned PCR-generated fragment bound to Loboa loboi cells. These results support the hypothesis that L. loboi in dolphin tissue is a fungus.