First case of fungemia caused by a rare and pan-echinocandin resistant yeast Sporopachydermia lactativora in China

This study is led by Dr. Qiushi Zheng and Professor Guanghua Huang (School of Life Sciences, Fudan University). This team reported the identification of a case of fungemia caused by an emerging fungal pathogen Sporopachydermia lactativora. Sporopachydermia species are members of the family Dipodascaceae and have traditionally been considered to be cactophilic yeasts. However, recent studies have revealed that yeasts such as S. cereana and S. lactativora could potentially emerge as human opportunistic pathogens.

This team describes the first case of fungemia caused by S. lactativora in a B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in China. To explore its genetic and pathogenic features, they performed genomic and biological analyses and found that potential transmissions of S. lactativora strains between environmental and clinical settings could occur.

The team found that Sporopachydermia species is pan-echinocandin resistant. The thick cell wall of S. lactativora cells could contribute to the increased resistance to echinocandins, which target the glucan synthase enzyme.

The researchers also found that S. lactativora strains from environmental ecological niches were close to strains from clinical settings by phylogenetic analysis, indicating that potential transmission between environmental and clinical settings occurred.

They also found that S. lactativora strain exhibited a lower fungal burden than that of C. albicans and C. auris with 5 x 10⁵ cells but showed a comparable fungal burden to C. auris and much higher than Saccharomyces cerevisiae when injected with 2 x 10⁷ cells.

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First case of fungemia caused by a rare and pan-echinocandin resistant yeast Sporopachydermia lactativora in China