Molecular and phenotypic reidentification of Sporothrix schenckii clinical isolates preserved under mineral oil for 34 to 64 years in a culture collection in Brazil

Thais Barreira; Danielly Corrêa-Moreira; Cintia Borba; Aurea Moraes; Manoel Oliveira

doi:10.1016/j.crmicr.2022.100128

Molecular and phenotypic reidentification of Sporothrix schenckii clinical isolates preserved under mineral oil for 34 to 64 years in a culture collection in Brazil

Curr Res Microb Sci. 2022 Mar 24:3:100128. doi: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2022.100128. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Thais Barreira^{1

2}, Danielly Corrêa-Moreira^{2

3}, Cintia Borba³, Aurea Moraes³, Manoel Oliveira^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory and Facility Multi-User, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
² Clinical Research in Infectious Diseases, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
³ Laboratory of Taxonomy, Biochemistry and Bioprospecting of Fungi, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ International Platform for Science , Technology and Innovation in Health.

Abstract

Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis worldwide distributed reaching hyperendemic proportions in Brazil. Many isolates from patients with sporotrichosis are preserved in culture collections by different methods around the world. The preservation methods are used to maintain the viability and the morphophysiological and genetic characteristics of isolates for long periods. In this study, we evaluated 34 isolates, previously, identified as S. schenckii by a classical identification method, initially preserved by periodical subcultures and then under mineral oil at culture collection of Oswaldo Cruz Institute/Fiocruz, to re-identify them by polyphasic identification. Our results showed that seven isolates remained viable for 34 to 64 years under oil, one isolate lost the ability to sporulate which was reverted by using a medium culture supplemented with rosebush branches and all of them were identified as Sporothrix schenckii sensu stricto by morphological, physiological, partial β-tubulin gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.

Keywords: Culture collection; Molecular identification and β-tubulin; Morphophysiological stability; Polyphasic identification; Sporothrix schenckii; Sporotrichosis; Viability.