Natural occurrence and growth reaction on canavanine-glycine-bromothymol blue agar of non-neoformans Cryptococcus spp. in Malaysia

Cryptococcus albidus and C. laurentii were the predominant non-neoformans cryptococci isolated during an environmental sampling study for C. gattii at Klang Valley, Malaysia. Cryptococcus gattii was not isolated from any of the environmental samples. Cryptococcus albidus and C. laurentii were isolated mainly from vegetative samples of Eucalyptus trees and bird droppings. Upon testing on canavanine-glycine-bromothymol blue (CGB) agar, all the C. albidus isolates remained unchanged. Interestingly, a total of 29 (76.3%) C. laurentii isolates formed blue colours on the CGB agar. Sequence analysis of ITS1-5.8rDNA-ITS2 gene sequences (468 bp) of four CGB-blue C. laurentii isolates demonstrated the closest match (99%) with that of C. laurentii CBS 7140. This study demonstrated the diverse environmental niche of C. albidus and C. laurentii in Malaysia.