18S-rDNA SEQUENCING, ENZYME PATTERNS AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TRICHOPHYTON ISOLATES

Dermatophytes, capable to use keratin of the host for nutrition, belong to one of the major groups of pathogenic fungi. Since dermatophytes are a closely related group they share various common features, and the morphology of isolates of a given species can be atypical, making species identification and differentiation even more difficult. Many methods have been explored in attempts to distinguish dermatophytes, but the combined use of different approaches for the investigation of the intraspecific and interspecific variability of Trichophyton continues to be scarce. Some studies have shown that amplified fragments of the small ribosomal DNA subunit 18S contains variable regions which can be used to discriminate between medically relevant yeast species, indicating that these regions could also be used for differentiation between dermatophytes. In our study, sequence analysis of the 18S-rDNA gene was combined with morphological and biochemical criteria in order to detect genetic differences between seven Trichophyton isolates and estimate their phylogenetic relationships. The results show that the isolates investigated belong to the Trichophyton group, which potentially contains the Trichophyton rubrum cluster.