Intraspecies diversity of Cryptococcus laurentii as revealed by sequences of internal transcribed spacer regions and 28S rRNA gene and taxonomic position of C. laurentii clinical isolates.

The intraspecies diversity of an opportunistic yeast pathogen, Cryptococcus laurentii, was revealed by analysis of the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions and the 28S rRNA gene. Ten strains of C. laurentii were grouped into two major phylogenetic groups and were further divided into at least seven species. Four of the strains isolated from patients did not represent a single species but showed heterogeneity. These results suggest that C. laurentii is a genetically heterogeneous species, and this must be taken into consideration when identifying C. laurentii clinical isolates.