TELOMERIC AND DISPERSED REPEAT SEQUENCES IN CANDIDA YEASTS AND THEIR USE IN STRAIN IDENTIFICATION

Several different repetitive DNA sequences have been isolated from the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. These include two families of large dispersed repeat sequences (Ca3, Ca24) and a short (23-bp) tandemly repeated element (Ca7) associated with C. albicans telomeres. In addition, a large subtelomeric repeat (WOL17) has been cloned. DNA fragments containing the telomeric repeats are highly variable among different C. albicans strains. We have shown that the Ca3 repeat is relatively more stable and is suitable for use as a species-specific and strain-specific probe for C. albicans.