Characterization of Virulence Factors, Cellular Stress Response, and Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of spp. Isolated from Northeast Brazilian Patients.

spp. are emerging pathogens that may cause high mortality rates, specifically among immunocompromised individuals. The objectives of this study were to perform a phylogenetic analysis of spp. clinical isolates. We also evaluated the expression of different virulence factors in vitro. In addition, the isolates were grown in the presence of cell-wall and membrane stressors. The antifungal susceptibility profiling was determined. The most prevalent strains belonged to the recently described species , with 17 isolates. The other strains were identified as follows: (n = 4), (n = 2), and (n = 2). All the isolates of , , and were strong biofilm producers. Statistical analysis revealed that strains produced more biofilm than . Higher cell surface hydrophobicity was also found for isolates compared to counterparts. seems to be more susceptible to Congo Red, Calcofluor White, and SDS than . It is possible to conclude that spp. may present peculiarities in terms of the expression of different virulence factors in vitro, besides displaying a variable susceptibility to different cellular stressors. isolates may present high MICs to the azoles, while against amphotericin B.