耶氏肺孢子菌基因分型研究进展

Progress in genotyping of Pneumocystis jirovecii

耶氏肺孢子菌是一种可感染人的机会致病性真菌,可致严重的肺孢子菌肺炎,尤其见于免疫功能低下者。肺孢子菌最初被认为是一种原虫,命名为卡氏肺孢子虫。20世纪80年代末,运用分子生物学技术对其基因序列进行检测分析,证实肺孢子虫是一种非典型真菌。由于缺乏有效的体外培养体系,很难清楚地了解肺孢子菌的病原生物学特性和流行病学特征。随着分子生物学技术的广泛应用,耶氏肺孢子菌分子分型的方法近年来得到了全面发展和研究,然而其基因分型方案缺乏国际标准化和全球共识,致使耶氏肺孢子菌临床分离株的流行病学及种群结构、传染源追溯、传播特性以及肺孢子菌肺炎的发病机制和防治等研究受到阻碍。为纪念耶氏肺孢子菌更名20周年,本文就其基因分型的研究进展进行综述。

Pneumocystis jirovecii,an opportunistic pathogenic fungus,may cause severe pneumocystis pneumonia(PCP),especially in immunodeficient patients.Pneumocystis was initially classified as a protozoan,named P.carinii.However,it was phylogenetically reclassified as an atypical fungal pathogen at late 1980 s,which was confirmed with genetic sequence analyses,using molecular biology techniques.Due to lack of in vitro culture method,it has been difficult to clearly understand the patho-biological and epidemiological characteristics of Pneumocystis.With the wide application of molecular biology techniques,genotyping method for Pneumocystis has been extensively developed in recent years,however,no international standardization and global consensus on the genotyping scheme has been reached,hindering the investigation of epidemiology,population structure,source of infection,transmission characteristics of the clinical isolate of P.jirovecii,and in turn impeding the studies on the pathogenesis and control strategy of PCP.This review summarizes the progress in research on the genotyping approaches for P.jirovecii,in commemorating the 20 th anniversary of its renaming.