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18S rRNA Gene Variation among Common Airborne Fungi, and Development of Specific Oligonucleotide Probes for the Detection of Fungal Isolates

National Institute for Working Life, SE-907 13 Umeå, Sweden,¹ Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100093 Beijing,⁴ The State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, 250100 Jinan, People's Republic of China,² Department of Forest Genetics, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan³

Received 4 October 2002/ Accepted 1 July 2003

In this study, we sequenced 18S rRNA genes (rDNA) from 49 fungal strains representing 31 species from 15 genera. Most of these species are common airborne fungi and pathogens that may cause various public health concerns. Sequence analysis revealed distinct divergence between Zygomycota and Ascomycota. Within Ascomycota, several strongly supported clades were identified that facilitate the taxonomic placement of several little-studied fungi. Wallemia appeared as the group most diverged from all the other Ascomycota species. Based on the 18S rDNA sequence variation, 108 oligonucleotide probes were designed for each genus and species included in this study. After homology searches and DNA hybridization evaluations, 33 probes were verified as genus or species specific. The optimal hybridization temperatures to achieve the best specificity for these 33 probes were determined. These new probes can contribute to the molecular diagnostic research for environmental monitoring.

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