TY - JOUR
T1 - Species Distinction in the Trichophyton rubrum Complex
AU - Su, Huilin
AU - Packeu, Ann
AU - Ahmed, Sarah A
AU - Al-Hatmi, Abdullah M S
AU - Blechert, Oliver
AU - İlkit, Macit
AU - Hagen, Ferry
AU - Gräser, Yvonne
AU - Liu, Weida
AU - Deng, Shuwen
AU - Hendrickx, Marijke
AU - Xu, Jinhua
AU - Zhu, Min
AU - de Hoog, Sybren
N1 - Copyright © 2019 Su et al.
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - The Trichophyton rubrum species complex comprises commonly encountered dermatophytic fungi with a worldwide distribution. The members of the complex usually have distinct phenotypes in culture and cause different clinical symptoms, despite high genome similarity. In order to better delimit the species within the complex, molecular, phenotypic, and physiological characteristics were combined to reestablish a natural species concept. Three groups, T. rubrum, T. soudanense, and T. violaceum, could be distinguished based on the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA barcode gene. On average, strains within each group were similar by colony appearance, microscopy, and physiology, but strains between groups showed significant differences. Trichophyton rubrum strains had higher keratinase activity, whereas T. violaceum strains tended to be more lipophilic; however, none of the phenotypic features were diagnostic. The results of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were partially consistent with the ITS data but failed to distinguish the species unambiguously. Despite their close similarity, T. violaceum, T. soudanense, and T. rubrum can be regarded as independent species with distinct geographical distributions and clinical predilections. Trichophyton soudanense is pheno- and genotypically intermediate between T. rubrum and T. violaceum For routine diagnostics, ITS sequencing is recommended.
AB - The Trichophyton rubrum species complex comprises commonly encountered dermatophytic fungi with a worldwide distribution. The members of the complex usually have distinct phenotypes in culture and cause different clinical symptoms, despite high genome similarity. In order to better delimit the species within the complex, molecular, phenotypic, and physiological characteristics were combined to reestablish a natural species concept. Three groups, T. rubrum, T. soudanense, and T. violaceum, could be distinguished based on the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA barcode gene. On average, strains within each group were similar by colony appearance, microscopy, and physiology, but strains between groups showed significant differences. Trichophyton rubrum strains had higher keratinase activity, whereas T. violaceum strains tended to be more lipophilic; however, none of the phenotypic features were diagnostic. The results of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were partially consistent with the ITS data but failed to distinguish the species unambiguously. Despite their close similarity, T. violaceum, T. soudanense, and T. rubrum can be regarded as independent species with distinct geographical distributions and clinical predilections. Trichophyton soudanense is pheno- and genotypically intermediate between T. rubrum and T. violaceum For routine diagnostics, ITS sequencing is recommended.
U2 - 10.1128/JCM.00352-19
DO - 10.1128/JCM.00352-19
M3 - Article
C2 - 31189587
SN - 0095-1137
VL - 57
JO - Journal of Clinical Microbiology
JF - Journal of Clinical Microbiology
IS - 9
ER -