Identification of yeast species isolated from cancer patients in Basrah-Iraq by ITS rDNA sequencing

Yeasts are a common normal flora in the human oral cavity especially members of Candida species, they can cause oral candidiasis in immunocompromised persons like cancer patients. This study conducted to detect the yeasts species isolated from the oral cavity of cancer patients in Basrah by using genetic analysis of ITS region. From a total of 54 yeasts isolates, 37 isolates appeared as different species of the genus Candida, the rest of species belong to Hanseniaspora (1), Kazachstania (1), Kluyveromyces (2), Magnusiomyces (3), Pichia (5) and Saccharomyces (5). 13yeasts species in this study reported as new strains in GenBank, also species belong to C. pronicula, H. uvarum, K. exigua, K. marxianus, M. capitatus, Magnusiomyces sp., P. kudriavzevii, P.manshurica and S.bayanus x S. cerevisiae isolated for the first time in Iraq, the results showed that the molecular method provide a good approach for the identification of yeast. :