More than one hundred strains of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (serotype A), mainly isolated from clinical specimens including AIDS patients in Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, China, Thailand, Egypt, Italy, or Chile were used for molecular typing by means of microsatellites. Thirteen microsatellite regions were selected and specific PCR primers were designed to detect these. The DNA sequence analyses showed the presence of highly polymorphic regions in the repeats of two microsatellites. No variation was observed in the remaining 11 microsatellites. Based on the number of repeats, all strains of the var. grubii were classified into 6 molecular groups, and these were found to be associated with their geographical origins. Japanese isolates comprised a distinct microsatellite type based on either repeat, and were clearly differentiated from other Asian, European, North and South American and African isolates.
