Development of a Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection ofTrichosporon asahiiin Experimental and Clinical Samples

Invasive trichosporonosis is a deep mycosis found mainly in immunocompromised hosts, and the major pathogen isTrichosporon asahii. We detected the species-specific intergenic spacers (IGS) of rRNA gene ofT. asahiiusing a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay in 15 isolates with 3 different visualization methods, including SYBR green detection, gel electrophoresis, and turbidimetric methods. The LAMP assay displayed superior rapidity to other traditional methods in the detection time; that is, only 1 h was needed for detection and identification of the pathogen DNA. Furthermore, the detection limit of the LAMP assay was more sensitive than the PCR assay. We also successfully detect the presence ofT. asahiiin samples from experimentally infected mice and samples from patients with invasive trichosporonosis caused byT. asahii, suggesting that this method may become useful in clinical applications in the near future.