Scedosporium spp. from Clinical Setting in Argentina, with the Proposal of the New Pathogenic Species Scedosporium americanum

Abstract

Species of the genus Scedosporium (family Microascaceae, phylum Ascomycota) are responsible for a wide range of opportunistic human infections, and have a low susceptibility to most antifungal drugs. It is well known that the pattern of Scedosporium species distribution varies according to geographic region. To assess the diversity of Scedosporium species in Argentina involved in human infections, we carried out a retrospective study reviewing 49 strains from clinical samples sent for diagnosis to the National Clinical Mycology Reference Laboratory between 1985 and 2019. Then, a phenotypic characterization, a phylogenetic study and and in vitro susceptibility test to antifungals were carried out. An analysis of combined nucleotide sequences dataset of the internal transcribed spacer of the ribosomal DNA (ITS) and of a fragment of the β-tubulin gene (BT2) demonstrated that 92% of the strains belonged to the species S. boydii, S. apiospermum and S. angustum, all them pertaining to S. apiospermum species complex. However, two strains (4%) were identified as S. aurantiacum, a species never reported in clinical settings in the Americas’. Surprisingly, one of them displayed a polycytella-like conidiogenesis, up to date only reported for S. apiospermum. In addition, the strain DMic 165285 was phylogenetically located far away from the rest of the species, so is proposed as the novel species Scedosporium americanum. On the other hand, from all seven antifungals tested, voriconazole and posaconazole were the most active drugs against Scedosporium spp.