Objectives:
To develop a robust and reliable yeast identification tool. ESR3 will address yeast diagnostics with emphasis on species and resistant isolates using the output of WPs 2-3. A clade-specific approach will be followed for the development of an "ALL-yeast" probe, an "ALL-Candida" probe, an "ALL- Cryptococcus" probe, and we will focus on the least inclusive group, the single pathogen species. P2 holds a big collection of 10,000 molecularly barcoded (ITS and D1D2) strains that will be used for probe validation.
Methodology:
WP2 will generate a series of genome domains that will be explored for probe generation using available bioinformatics tools, PrimerSelect software (DNASTAR Lasergene 8). Probe optimisation will be done in collaboration with ESR1 (P1) and PO1 and by extensive testing in the clinical laboratory (P8) using WP2 validated strains, including reliability, sensitivity etc. In collaboration with ESR11 (P8) and ESR4 (P2), clinical samples will be tested and compared with current methods of clinical yeast identification.
An overview of the project can be downloaded here:
