The Case for Adopting the "Species Complex" Nomenclature for the Etiologic Agents of Cryptococcosis

Kyung J Kwon-Chung¹, John E Bennett¹, Brian L Wickes², Wieland Meyer³, Christina A Cuomo⁴, Kurt R Wollenburg⁵, Tihana A Bicanic⁶, Elizabeth Castañeda⁷, Yun C Chang¹, Jianghan Chen⁸, Massimo Cogliati⁹, Françoise Dromer¹⁰, David Ellis¹¹, Scott G Filler¹², Matthew C Fisher¹³, Thomas S Harrison⁶, Steven M Holland¹, Shigeru Kohno¹⁴, James W Kronstad¹⁵, Marcia Lazera¹⁶, Stuart M Levitz¹⁷, Michail S Lionakis¹, Robin C May¹⁸, Popchai Ngamskulrongroj¹⁹, Peter G Pappas²⁰, John R Perfect²¹, Volker Rickerts²², Tania C Sorrell²³, Thomas J Walsh²⁴, Peter R Williamson¹, Jianping Xu²⁵, Adrian M Zelazny²⁶, Arturo Casadevall²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
² University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
³ Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
⁵ Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Institute of Infection and Immunity, St. George's University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Colombia Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogota, Colombia.
⁸ Mycology Center, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
⁹ Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
¹⁰ Institut Pasteur, Molecular Mycology Unit, Paris, France.
¹¹ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
¹² Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹³ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
¹⁵ Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
¹⁶ Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
¹⁸ Institute of Microbiology and Infection and School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
¹⁹ Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁰ Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
²¹ Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
²² Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
²³ Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
²⁴ Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
²⁵ Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Hainan Medical College, Haikou, Hainan, China.
²⁶ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
²⁷ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

PMID: 28101535
PMCID: PMC5227069
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00357-16

The Case for Adopting the "Species Complex" Nomenclature for the Etiologic Agents of Cryptococcosis

Kyung J Kwon-Chung et al. mSphere. 2017.

. 2017 Jan 11;2(1):e00357-16.

doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00357-16. eCollection 2017 Jan-Feb.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
² University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
³ Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
⁵ Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Institute of Infection and Immunity, St. George's University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Colombia Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogota, Colombia.
⁸ Mycology Center, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
⁹ Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
¹⁰ Institut Pasteur, Molecular Mycology Unit, Paris, France.
¹¹ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
¹² Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹³ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
¹⁵ Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
¹⁶ Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
¹⁸ Institute of Microbiology and Infection and School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
¹⁹ Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁰ Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
²¹ Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
²² Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
²³ Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
²⁴ Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
²⁵ Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Hainan Medical College, Haikou, Hainan, China.
²⁶ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
²⁷ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

PMID: 28101535
PMCID: PMC5227069
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00357-16

Abstract

Cryptococcosis is a potentially lethal disease of humans/animals caused by Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii. Distinction between the two species is based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Recently, it was proposed that C. neoformans be divided into two species and C. gattii into five species based on a phylogenetic analysis of 115 isolates. While this proposal adds to the knowledge about the genetic diversity and population structure of cryptococcosis agents, the published genotypes of 2,606 strains have already revealed more genetic diversity than is encompassed by seven species. Naming every clade as a separate species at this juncture will lead to continuing nomenclatural instability. In the absence of biological differences between clades and no consensus about how DNA sequence alone can delineate a species, we recommend using "Cryptococcus neoformans species complex" and "C. gattii species complex" as a practical intermediate step, rather than creating more species. This strategy recognizes genetic diversity without creating confusion.

Keywords: Cryptococcosis; Cryptococcus gattii; Cryptococcus neoformans; clade; genetic diversity; new nomenclature; species complex.

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The Case for Adopting the "Species Complex" Nomenclature for the Etiologic Agents of Cryptococcosis

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The Case for Adopting the "Species Complex" Nomenclature for the Etiologic Agents of Cryptococcosis

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