Unveiling the Morphostructural Plasticity of Zoonotic Sporotrichosis Fungal Strains: Possible Implications for Sporothrix brasiliensis Virulence and Pathogenicity

Sporotrichosis is a fungal infection caused by Sporothrix species, with brasiliensis as prevalent pathogen in Latin America. Despite its clinical importance, the virulence factors of S. and their impact on pathogenesis sporotrichosis are still poorly understood. This study evaluated morphostructural plasticity brasiliensis, fungus that causes sporotrichosis. Three cell surface characteristics, namely hydrophobicity, Zeta potential, conductance, were assessed. Biofilm formation was also analyzed, measurements taken for biomass, extracellular matrix, metabolic activity. In addition, other potential studied characteristics correlated such lipid bodies, chitin, size evaluated. The results revealed major phenotsypic features associated strains conductance. dendrogram clustered based overall similarity production these factors. Correlation analyses showed hydrophobicity strongly linked to biomass while there weaker association between size, bodies chitin. provides valuable insights into role