Taxonomic position of clinical isolates of Candida famata

We examined five clinical isolates formerly classified as Candida famata to clarify their taxonomic position by DNA-DNA reassociation studies and several phenotypic features. Four of the five isolates, M 5101, M 5102, M 5111 and M 5112, produced ascospores after being grown for 1 week on YM agar at 20 degrees C. By the API 20C system, three of the five isolates were identified as C. famata, and the other two strains as C. guilliermondii/C. famata. The antigenic patterns of all the isolates examined with the Candida Check kit were similar to those of C. guilliermondii. Specific antiserum against C. saitoana was obtained by adsorption. However, none of the clinical isolates tested reacted with this adsorbed serum. The mol% G + C of the four sporulated isolates ranged from 35.8 to 37.7 and that of the remaining, non-sporulated, isolate M 2054 was 43.4. The DNA reassociation value was determined by the spectrophotometric method. M 5111 and M 5112 were identified as Debaryomyces hansenii var. hansenii, M 5101 and M 5102 as D. hansenii var. fabryi and M 2054 as C. guilliermondii. The ascospore formation was exclusive to the four isolates related to D. hansenii. These findings suggest that with the exception of C. guilliermondii the other C. famata isolates examined all belong to a single species, D. hansenii.