Histoplasma capsulatum catalase sequences and their use in the detection of Histoplamsa capsulatum and histoplasmosis

摘要

The present invention describes Histoplasmosis capsulatum catalase A and catalase P nucleic acid and protein sequences as reagents for the detection of H. capsulatum infection. Specifically, the invention describes intron sequences from the H. capsulatum catalase A (CATA) and catalase P (CATP) genes which can be used for hybridization and PCR based detection of H. capsulatum infection. In another embodiment, assays for H. capsulatum catalase P or catalase A polypeptides are used as diagnostic tests for H. capsulatum infection and histoplasmosis, respectively. Also described is the differentiation of H. capsulatum from Blastomyces dermititidis based on a H. capsulatum catalase P PCR based assay.