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Published January 1, 2018 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Whole-Genome Analysis Illustrates Global Clonal Population Structure of the Ubiquitous Dermatophyte Pathogen Trichophyton rubrum

Creators

  • 1. Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Genet, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, BR-14049900 Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • 2. Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Mol Genet & Microbiol, 322 CARL Bldg,Box 3546, Durham, NC 27710 USA
  • 3. Broad Inst Massachusetts Inst Technol & Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
  • 4. Ctr Infect Dis Res, Seattle, WA 98109 USA
  • 5. Univ Leeds, Sch Mol & Cellular Biol, Leeds LS2 9JT, W Yorkshire, England
  • 6. Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim Univ, Fac Engn & Nat Sci, Dept Food Engn, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 7. Univ Ege, Dept Microbiol, Fac Med, TR-35100 Izmir, Turkey
  • 8. Univ Cukurova, Div Mycol, Dept Microbiol, Fac Med, TR-01330 Adana, Turkey
  • 9. Univ Med Berlin Charite, Inst Microbiol & Hyg, D-12203 Berlin, Germany
  • 10. Univ Missouri, Sch Biol Sci, Kansas City, MO 64110 USA

Description

Dermatophytes include fungal species that infect humans, as well as those that also infect other animals or only grow in the environment. The dermatophyte species Trichophyton rubrum is a frequent cause of skin infection in immunocompetent individuals. While members of the T. rubrum species complex have been further categorized based on various morphologies, their population structure and ability to undergo sexual reproduction are not well understood. In this study, we analyze a large set of T. rubrum and T. interdigitale isolates to examine mating types, evidence of mating, and genetic variation. We find that nearly all isolates of T. rubrum are of a single mating type, and that incubation with T. rubrum "morphotype" megninii isolates of the other mating type failed to induce sexual development. While the region around the mating type locus is characterized by a higher frequency of SNPs compared to other genomic regions, we find that the population is remarkably clonal, with highly conserved gene content, low levels of variation, and little evidence of recombination. These results support a model of recent transition to asexual growth when this species specialized to growth on human hosts.

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