Table 3.

A summary of recent technical developments in the molecular diagnosis of invasive yeast infections

Purpose	Application	Technology	Reference
Improve identification of yeasts	Culture—Differentiation of cryptic species of C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis	Low-cost multiplex PCR with specific primers—differentiation based on amplicon size	[99]
	Detection and ID of Candida direct from blood	Real-time PCR with high-resolution melt-curve analysis	[100]
	Differentiation of isolated Candida species	Real-time PCR with high-resolution melt-curve analysis	[101]
	Identification of Candida species	Real-time PCR with high-resolution melt-curve analysis	[102]
	Differentiation of cryptic C. parapsilosis species	Exon-primed intron-crossing PCR assay combined with restriction enzyme analysis—MnSOD gene	[103]
	Identification of C. albicans	Loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay	[104]
	Identification of C. parapsilosis complex	Loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay	[105]
Improve utility of blood culture yeast diagnosis	Identification of clinically relevant yeasts and bacteria in positive blood cultures	Prove-it Sepsis Microarray assay	[106]
	Rapid identification of 15 fungal pathogens direct from blood culture	GenMark Dx ePlex microfluidic and electrochemical detection system	[107]
	Pan-candidal and bacterial detection direct from blood culture	GenMark Dx ePlex microfluidic and electrochemical detection system	[108]
	Rapid identification of seven Candida species direct from blood culture	Antimicrobial polymers and CHIP detection targeting the 28S rRNA gene	[109]
	Rapid identification of bacteria and Candida species direct from blood culture	Punch-it NA-Sample kit and reverse blot hybridization assay	[110]
Improve direct diagnosis of yeast infections	Detection of C. albicans and other genitourinary pathogens direct from urine or vaginal swabs	DNA chip (STDetect)	[111]
	Detection of mixed fungal infections in tissue	Broad-range PCR (28S rRNA and ITS2), sequencing Isentio RipSeq tool and Fluorescence in situ hybridization	[112]
	Detection of bacterial and fungal pathogens in ocular samples from patients with suspected endophthalmitis	Direct PCR amplification of 16S and 18s rDNA and sequencing	[113]
	Detection of bacterial and fungal pathogens in vitreous fluid from patients with suspected endophthalmitis	PCR and DNA microarray analysis of the ITS1 region	[114]
	Detection of four Candida species direct from blood	Asymmetric PCR and fluorescence polarization assay	[115]
	Detection of Candida and Aspergillus direct from blood	Multiplex PCR targeting 18S and 28s RNA genes and semi-automated surface-enhanced Raman scattering assay	[116]
	Detection of the five main Candida species direct from blood	Reverse-transcriptase real-time PCR of 18S/28S rRNA genes	[117]
	Direct detection of C. albicans direct from blood	Polymerase spiral reaction targeting the ITS2 region	[118]
	Direct detection of C. albicans direct from blood	Microfluidic real-time PCR	[119]
	Direct detection of C. albicans in oral exfoliative cytology samples	Loop-mediated isothermal amplification	[120]
	Direct detection of bacterial and yeast infections in blood	PCR-reverse blot hybridization, using the REBA Sepsis-ID assay	[121]
Other potential clinical applications	Use of qPCR to determine viable cells in response to antifungal therapy	Ethidium bromide pre-staining of cultures with and without antifungal treatment, using qPCR to determine cell viability	[122]