N. Kwiatkowski, W. Babkier, W. Merz, K. Carroll, and S. Zhang. The Johns Hopkins Hospital Microbiology laboratory and the Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Vol. 14, No. 4, July 2012. (Accepted Feb 2012, available online May 2012.) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Citation: “... In this study, we evaluated DNA sequencing of the D1/D2 region of the large subunit of the 28S ribosomal RNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region using SmartGene ... for the identification of a broad range of commonly encountered filamentous fungi. The [SmartGene] proofreaders were used to upload, align, and edit fragments, and the resultant sequences were interpreted using the quality-controlled [SmartGene] database. The results were compared with reference identifications using conventional phenotypic methods or ITS DNA sequences obtained from GenBank if phenotypic identifications were inconclusive. ...Correct identification was achieved for 100% ... of the isolates when applying both the D1/D2 and ITS targets. In summary, DNA sequencing using [SmartGene] software provides a rapid, accurate, and reliable tool for the identification of filamentous fungi in a clinical laboratory.”