Detection of Emerging Genotypes in Species Complex: A Proposal for Handling Biodiversity in Dermatophytes

Overview

Journal Front Microbiol

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2022 Sep 9

PMID 36081804

Authors

Chao Tang

Sarah A Ahmed

Shuwen Deng

Lu Zhang

Jan Zoll

Abdullah M S Al-Hatmi

Jacques F Meis

Rameshwari Thakur

Yingqian Kang

G Sybren de Hoog

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A resistant and hypervirulent dermatophyte from India has been described as a taxonomic novelty, , a species of the complex. Rapid detection and correct identification of closely similar dermatophytes with different predilections are essential for efficient clinical management. We evaluated the efficacy of rapid diagnostic methods clinical and environmental strains in the complex. The methods included Real-time-PCR, DermaGenius, LAMP, and MALDI-ToF MS, using rDNA ITS sequences as taxonomic standard. The results show that only MALDI-ToF MS can distinguish 96.97% from other closely related species. The complex comprises numerous clones which may differ in anonymous markers but with similar evolutionary behavior. Therefore, we recommend to distinguish species only when they show an appreciable degree of adaptation and thus are clinically significant. The distinction of remaining clonal diversity is an epidemiological query and can be solved by haplotype numbering.

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