Rapid identification of yeasts from positive blood culture bottles by pyrosequencing.

We have developed a rapid protocol for the identification of Candida species from positive blood cultures by combining a simple method for nucleic acid extraction and preparation using microbial storage cardboards with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pyrosequencing of a small region of the 18 S rRNA gene. The protocol is robust and easy to implement and can be performed in 4 h. The method was tested against a collection of clinical blood cultures. Agreement of sequence identifications with standard microbiological methods was 100%.