The significant increase in the frequency of candidiasis wide world has promoted the study and development of fast and reliable
techniques aimed at the replacement of traditional methods used for identification and typing of Candida clinical isolates.
Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation Time-Of-Flight lntact Cell Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF ICMS) has been
applied as current method for Candida identification in clinical laboratories. This method is reported as suitable fur routine
identification in clinical laboratories and fast and reliable for identification of pathogenic yeasts. The main aim of this study was
to compare MALDI-TOF ICMS performance with the classical phenotypic approach and molecular analyses to identify Candida
species from clinical cases. Forty clinical Candida isolates preserved in URM Culture Collection fur I to 52 years were
identified by morphological and biochemical analysis as Candida albicans (20), C. krusei (05), C. parapsilosis (11) and C.
tropicalis (04). These identifications were compared with the discriminative capability of the new phenotypic approaches using
MALDI-TOF ICMS. MALDI-TOF ICMS data demonstrated 15% discordance when compared with morphological and
biochemical analyses. The discordant isolates were analysed by ITS sequencing which corroborated the MALDI-TOF ICMS
identifications. Five Candida krusei isolates were renamed Issatchenkia orientalis by MALDI-TOF ICMS SARAMISTM
database, which is their teleomorphic name. ln conclusion MALDI-TOF ICMS represents a rapid and reliable method of
identifying Candida and also presents clear benefits when compared with the performance of existing daily routine methods
applied at health centres and hospitals. Research leading to these results received funding from the European Community's
Seventh Framework Program (FP7, 2007-2013), Research lnfrastructures Action, under grant agreement No. FP7-228310
(EMbaRC project). Thanks are also due to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil) for
funding support.European Community's Seventh Fmmework Progmm (FP7, 2007-2013), Research lnfrastructures Action, under gmnt agreement No. FP7-228310
(EMbaRC project), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil