{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T14:21:11Z","timestamp":1791901271237,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]],"date-time":"2023-05-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1685404800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior (CAPES)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CNPq 305506\/2019-6"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CNPq 305506\/2019-6"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior (CAPES)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["401513\/2016-5"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["401513\/2016-5"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JoF"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The species complexes Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are the causative agents of cryptococcosis. Virulence and susceptibility to antifungals may vary within each species according to the fungal genotype. Therefore, specific and easily accessible molecular markers are required to distinguish cryptic species and\/or genotypes. Group I introns are potential markers for this purpose because they are polymorphic concerning their presence and sequence. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the presence of group I introns in the mitochondrial genes cob and cox1 in different Cryptococcus isolates. Additionally, the origin, distribution, and evolution of these introns were investigated by phylogenetic analyses, including previously sequenced introns for the mtLSU gene. Approximately 80.5% of the 36 sequenced introns presented homing endonucleases, and phylogenetic analyses revealed that introns occupying the same insertion site form monophyletic clades. This suggests that they likely share a common ancestor that invaded the site prior to species divergence. There was only one case of heterologous invasion, probably through horizontal transfer to C. decagattii (VGIV genotype) from another fungal species. Our results showed that the C. neoformans complex has fewer introns compared to C. gattii. Additionally, there is significant polymorphism in the presence and size of these elements, both among and within genotypes. As a result, it is impossible to differentiate the cryptic species using a single intron. However, it was possible to differentiate among genotypes within each species complex, by combining PCRs of mtLSU and cox1 introns, for C. neoformans species, and mtLSU and cob introns for C. gattii species.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jof9060629","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]],"date-time":"2023-05-30T03:02:23Z","timestamp":1685415743000},"page":"629","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Distribution and Polymorphisms of Group I Introns in Mitochondrial Genes from Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1477-1303","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ronald Muryellison Oliveira da Silva","family":"Gomes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Tropical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7038-6306","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"K\u00e1ssia J\u00e9ssica Galdino","family":"da Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Tropical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leonardo Capistrano","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Tropical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Center of Bioscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5270-6302","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thales Domingos","family":"Arantes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Universidade Federal de Goi\u00e1s, Goi\u00e2nia 74605-050, GO, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5016-1046","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raquel Cordeiro","family":"Theodoro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Tropical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"},{"name":"Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Center of Bioscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59064-741, RN, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105521","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micpath.2022.105521","article-title":"A Holistic Review on Cryptococcus neoformans","volume":"166","author":"Rathore","year":"2022","journal-title":"Microb. 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