Theyeasts.org, the on-line tool to identify clinically relevant yeasts
Theyeasts.org will help users around the globe to identify yeast isolates. This was possible via a collaboration between Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (KNAW, Utrecht, The Netherlands) and SME BioAware (Hannut, Belgium) with its software package Biolomics. Later, Bruker Daltonik GmbH (Bremen, Germany) made proprietary bio-informatics tools available to identify yeasts using maldi-tof MS spectra, and this will be linked to MicrobeNet of Centers for Disease Control (CDC Atlanta, USA).
The incidence and mortality of invasive fungal infections, partly caused by newly emerging yeast pathogens, is increasing and will remain high in the future. Fast and reliable identification of pathogenic yeasts is of great importance to prescribe the correct treatment in time and to reduce development of resistance.
IDCY contributed to theyeasts.org that presents information on yeast biodiversity. Theyeasts.org is open access and accessible for clinicians and researchers from economically challenging to developed countries.
Theyeasts.org contains phenotypic data, growth profiles, images of yeast cells and colonies, and ITS and D1 / D2 barcode sequences of almost all 2300 described yeast species. In addition, MIC values for five classes of antifungals are included for > 900 species with 1700 strains, and MIC values and information on resistance genes (ERG11, FKS1 and FKS 2, PDR1, MRR1, TAC1, UPC2) for azoles and echinocandins for c. 30 pathogenic yeasts, and Maldi-tof MS spectra of > 300 yeast species, including> 75 pathogens. Bruker has made its proprietary bioinformatics program available to use these spectra for on-line identifications. In the near future, theyeasts.org will collaborate with CDC to link with MicrobeNet. All these datasets can be used either alone or combined to identify unknown yeast isolates, and to get an idea on the susceptibility of that isolates to antifungal drug, which may help the clinician to decide on appropriate treatment.
