Molecular Characterization of Medically Important Fungi: Current Research and Future Prospects

Fungi have raised serious problems for human health as invasive fungal pathogens. These fungal infections are the possible reason of increased death and morbidity rates in immune-compromised patients. In this regard, early diagnosis and characterization of the invasive fungal species is of utmost importance. Currently employed fungal identification and diagnostic techniques, for example, microscopy, biochemical tests, histopathology, culture based and staining procedures, due to low sensitivity and time consumption are not ideal. To surmount this hurdle, molecular tools such as PCR, hybridization methods, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and nano-diagnostic approaches have gained considerable attention by researchers since they allow rapid detection and identification of invasive fungal pathogens.