[Classification and phylogeny of pathogenic fungi]

The clinical isolates are traditionally classified based on morphology, but in recent years a polyphasic taxonomy that combines morphological, physiologic and molecular phylogenetic analyses is used to characterize them. Numerous common pathogenic species, traditionally considered homogeneous, are indeed polyphyletic. Classifications of Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus and relatives based on molecular phylogenetic analyses have been developed. The strains of C. albicans group are divided into 5 genotypes by PCR method. The strains of Cr. neoformans are divided into 3 varieties (var. grubii, var. neoformans, var. gattii) and into 5 serotypes. The strains of A.fumigatus and relative are divided into 5 clades based on DNA sequence analysis.