Characterisation of Candida reference strains by ATR- FTIR

Differentiation of Candida species resides on biochemical reactions and morphological features. However, phenotypic variations within some species such as Candida albicans has led to confusion in taxonomical and clinical classification of Candida species. Recent developments in analytical instrumentation and statistical methods, have enabled Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to emerge as a rapid, accurate and inexpensive method to characterize microorganisms [1–3]. The aim of present study is to characterize 5 reference strains of Candida species (C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. knisei, C. glabrata and C. tropicalis) using attenuated total-reflectance (ATR)- FTIR spectroscopy, i.e., without any preparation of the yeast colonies. These results could in turn be used to construct a data base for comparison of clinical strains.