Molecular identification of a clinical isolate of non-pigmented and asporogenic Aspergillus fumigatus strain which cannot be identified by traditional morphological methods.

A non-pigmented and asporogenic fungal strain without taxonomically useful characteristics was isolated from sputum of a patient with chronic bronchitis. Although the taxonomic position could not be determined based on traditional morphological criteria, the fungus was identified as an Aspergillus fumigatus mutant strain by molecular techniques including ITS sequence analysis and PCR identification system using a PCR primer pair specific for A. fumigatus. Usefulness of these molecular techniques for the identification of non-classifiable fungal strains in a clinical laboratory is discussed.