Variation in random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles specific to fluconazole-resistant and -sensitive...

Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis was used to detect genotype relatedness among clinical fluconazole-resistant and -sensitive strains of Candida albicans recovered from twenty HIV-infected patients having oropharyngeal candidiasis. Sensitive strains were obtained from a local hospital and were from patients that had not been treated with azole drugs while resistant strains were recovered from patients in different parts of Europe and their resistance was a consequence of drug-treatment given to the patients. On amplification with different arbitrary sequence decamer primers, the results demonstrated a homogeneous banding pattern for all sensitive strains that was distinct from that obtained in case of the resistant strains. The DNA profiles of strains were thus broadly clustered into two major groups of resistant and sensitive strains. The RAPD technique may be useful in differentiating fluconazole-resistant strains from the -sensitive ones for early identification of resistant isolates from AIDS patients.