Virulence-associated phenotypes observed in strains isolated from commercial products.

Phenotype traits shown in Figures (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and Table 4 were simplified as follows to calculate the Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficients between strains and apply the Jaccard proximity test (excluding joint absences for considerations): growth at 37, 39 and 42°C, +++, ++ and + were simplified to +, and ± and − were simplified to −; phospholipase activity (PLA), ++ and + were simplified to +; pseudohyphal (Ph) growth,++ and + were simplified to +; invasive growth, ± and − were simplified to −; switching, multiple colony phenotypes with frequencies between 10−2−10−4 were considered +; MAPK activation, high Slt2 and Kss1 phosphorylation was considered + and low or non phosphorylation were considered −; Plastics adherence (ADH), Petri plates adherence values >30% and microtiter plates absorbance values >1 were considered +, Petri plates adherence values ≤30% and microtiter plates absorbance values