TABLE 1 .
Characteristics of pathogenic Cryptococcus speciesa
| Characteristic | C. neoformans | C. deneoformans | C. gattii | C. bacillisporus | C. deuterogattii | C. tetragattii | C. decagattii |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genotype | AFLP1/VNI, AFLP1A/VNB/VNII, and AFLP1B/VNII | AFLP2/VNIV | AFLP4/VGI | AFLP5/VGIII | AFLP6/VGII | AFLP7/VGIV | AFLP10 |
| Geographical distributionb | Worldwide (↑AFR) | Global (↑EUR) | Worldwide (↑ Asia, AUS, EUR) | Global (↑ California) | Worldwide (↑ AUS, NAM, SAM) | Sub-Saharan Africa and India | Latin America |
| Ecological preference | Bird droppings, soil, trees (1, 51–55) | Bird droppings, soil, trees (1, 51–55) | Trees (1) | Trees | Trees | ? | ? |
| Colonization | ↑ in Arabidopsis thaliana compared to C. deneoformans (54) | ↓ in Arabidopsis thaliana compared to C. neoformans (54) | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Animal infection | ↑ Birds | ? | ↑ Mammals | Mammals | ↑ Mammals | ? | ? |
| Susceptibility to antifungal drugsc | ↑ GM MICs for AMB than C. deneoformans and interspecies hybrids (19, 48); ↑ GM MICs for 5FC compared to C. tetragattii (152) | ↑ GM MICs for 5FC than C. neoformans and interspecies hybrids (48) | ↑ GM MICs for FLZ, ITZ, and VCZ than C. neoformans (49) | No specific determinants | ↑ GM MICs for 5FC, FLZ, VCZ, ITZ, PSZ, and ISA than C. gattii (44–46) | ↓ GM MICs for 5FC compared to C. neoformans (152) | ? |
| Clinical/host immune status | Mainly immunocompromised (↑HIV), but subgenotype VNIγ from immunocompetent subjects (84). ↑ meningitis | Immunocompromised and immunocompetent, ↑ cutaneous and elderly (153) | ↑ Apparently healthy subjects, ↑ cryptococcoma | ↑ HIV-positive subjects | ↑ Apparently healthy subjects, ↑ pulmonary infections | ↑ HIV-positive subjects | HIV-positive subjects |
| Capsule properties | ↓ compared to C. gattii sensu lato (154) | ND | ↑ compared to C. neoformans (154); ↑ compared to C. bacillisporus, C. deuterogattii, and C. tetragattii (50) | ↑ compared to C. neoformans and C. deuterogattii (154) | ↑ compared to C. neoformans (154); ↓ compared to C. bacillisporus, C. gattii, and C. tetragattii (48) | ↑ compared to C. neoformans (154) | ND |
| Cell volume | ND | ND | ↓ compared to C. bacillisporus, C. deuterogattii, and C. tetragattii; absence of giant cells (50) | ND | ↑ compared to C. bacillisporus, C. gattii, and C. tetragattii;i ↑ giant cells (50) | ↑ Giant cells (50) | ND |
| Thermotolerance | ↑ Growth rate at 37°C (154) | ↓ Growth rate at 37°C (154) | ↓ Growth rate at 37°C (154); intermediate compared to C. bacillisporus, C. deuterogattii, and C. tetragattii (50) | ↓ Growth rate at 37°C (154); ↓ compared to C. gattii, C. deuterogattii, and C. tetragattii (50) | ↓ Growth rate at 37°C compared to C. neoformans (154); ↑ compared to C. gattii, C. bacillisporus, and C. tetragattii (50) | ↓ compared to C. gattii, C. bacillisporus, and C. deuterogattii (50) | ND |
| Melanin | ↑ compared to C. gattii sensu lato (154) | ND | ↓ compared to C. neoformans (154) | ↓ compared to C. neoformans (154) | ↓ compared to C. neoformans (154) | ↓ compared to C. neoformans (154) | ND |
| Virulence in Drosophila melanogaster model | ND | ND | ↓ compared to C. bacillisporus (154) | ↑ compared to C. gattii, C. deuterogattii, and C. tetragattii (154) | ↓ compared to C. bacillisporus (154) | ↓ compared to C. bacillisporus (154) | ND |
| RNAi pathwayd | Present (65) | Present (65) | Present (65) | Present (65) | Lost (65) | Present (65) | ND |
| Mycophenolic acid | Sensitive (66) | Sensitive (66) | Sensitive (66) | Sensitive (66) | Sensitive (66) | Not sensitive (66) | ND |
| Growth on the following medium: | |||||||
| CGB | Yellowish | Yellowish | Blue | Blue | Blue | Blue | Blue |
| CDBT | Pale colonies with no apparent color effect on the medium (155) | Colonies bright red, medium bright orange (155) | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND |
a
Overview of characteristics of the pathogenic Cryptococcus species, using data from Hagen et al. (1) and updated where indicated with reference numbers. See reference 1, including its supplemental data, for more-detailed phenotypic information. A question mark indicates that the specific item is unknown. ↑, higher or increase in; ↓, lower or decrease in; ND, not determined.
b
Abbreviations: AFR, Africa; EUR, Europe; AUS, Australia: NAM, North America; SAM, South America.
c
Abbreviations: GM, geometric mean; AMB, amphotericin B; 5FC, 5-fluorocytosine; FLZ, fluoconazole; ISA, isavuconazole; ITZ, itraconazole; PSZ, posaconazole; VCZ, voriconazole.
d
RNAi, RNA interference.