Abstract: Prototheca is a unicellular organism with the cellular diameter about 3~30 μm.It exists in the nature and both in vitro and in vivo of the animal body, and it belongs to the opportunistic pathogenic fungus. The main methods to identify prototheca include direct microscopic examination, culture of the fungi, histopathology and molecular biology techniques. Prototheca includes 5 different species, and only the type 2 of Prototheca zopfii, Prototheca wickerhamii and Prototheca blaschkeae have pathogenicity to human. The pathogenic mechanism may be related to trauma and hypoimmunity in infected subjects. With the deepening research, more and more protothecosis were diagnosed. The therapy of protothecosis is different according to the species and their clinical manifestations. In order to increase the recognition of its pathogenicity, here we review briefly the advancement on the biology, identification, pathogenicity and clinical magnification of prototheca.

Key words: Prototheca, molecular biology identification, pathogenicity, clinical magnifications, therapy