Chaskes S, Tyndall R L
J Clin Microbiol. 1978 Feb;7(2):146-52. doi: 10.1128/jcm.7.2.146-152.1978.
Cryptococcus neoformans and other Cryptococcus species can produce pigment(s) from many aminophenol and diaminobenzene compounds. Pigment production from these compounds is similar to the conversion of diphenols to melanin by C. neoformans. Several pigmentation patterns (resulting in the identification or grouping of Cryptococcus species) have been observed by using diaminobenzene and aminophenol compounds as substrates. The most common pigmentation pattern observed was pigment production by both C. neoformans and C. terreus. In contrast to the diphenols, only two aminophenols (4-hydroxymetanilamide and 3-aminotyrosine) were found to be highly specific as substrates. They allowed only C. neoformans to produce pigment. When 4-aminosalicylic acid was the substrate, a unique pattern was observed because only C. terreus, C. diffluens, and C. albidus produced pigment. Finally, a pattern was observed in which C. neoformans produced large amounts of pigment from aminophenol and diaminobenzene compounds, whereas the other Cryptococcus species produced smaller amounts. A simplified scheme with three substrates resulted in the identification of C. terreus and C. neoformans as well as two groups of other Cryptococcus species, group I (C. albidus and C. diffluens) and group II (C. laurentii and C. luteolus).
新型隐球菌和其他隐球菌属物种可利用多种氨基酚和二氨基苯化合物产生色素。这些化合物产生色素的过程类似于新型隐球菌将二酚转化为黑色素的过程。通过使用二氨基苯和氨基酚化合物作为底物，已观察到几种色素沉着模式（可用于鉴定或区分隐球菌属物种）。观察到的最常见色素沉着模式是新型隐球菌和土生隐球菌都产生色素。与二酚不同，仅发现两种氨基酚（4-羟基间苯二胺和3-氨基酪氨酸）作为底物具有高度特异性。它们仅使新型隐球菌产生色素。当以4-氨基水杨酸为底物时，观察到一种独特的模式，因为只有土生隐球菌、浅白隐球菌和白隐球菌产生色素。最后，观察到一种模式，即新型隐球菌从氨基酚和二氨基苯化合物中产生大量色素，而其他隐球菌属物种产生的色素量较少。一个使用三种底物的简化方案可鉴定出土生隐球菌和新型隐球菌以及其他两组隐球菌属物种，第一组（白隐球菌和浅白隐球菌）和第二组（罗伦隐球菌和淡黄隐球菌）。
