PCR and Fungi

[Steve Head]

I have an interesting question.  I'm interested in quantifying the number 
of viable fungi in an infected rabbit cornea.  We have developed a 
reproducible method for grinding the corneas and doing serial dilution 
plate counts as an excellent method for many applicatons. However this 
has certain limitations which I won't bore you with.  We are now 
looking at PCR and related methods and can easily enough extract the 
fungal neucleic acids from the infected corneas by established 
techniques.  My question this week is:  

Which gene would you target to quantify viable fungi in a mammalian 
cornea?  


It is important that this gene be representative of the "infecting fungal 
load" and that it be somewhat constant over the life cycle of the fungus. 
The first fungus we want to look at is Candida albicans which exists 
primarily in the hyphal phase in our model. 

Thanks in advance for the help.....
Steve Head