Proteomic profile of dormant Trichophyton rubrum conidia.
BACKGROUND
Trichophyton rubrum is the most common dermatophyte causing fungal skin infections in humans. Asexual sporulation is an important means of propagation for T. rubrum, and conidia produced by this way are thought to be the primary cause of human infections. Despite their importance in pathogenesis, the conidia of T. rubrum remain understudied. We intend to intensively investigate the proteome of dormant T. rubrum conidia to characterize its molecular and cellular features and to enhance the development of novel therapeutic strategies.


RESULTS
The proteome of T. rubrum conidia was analyzed by combining shotgun proteomics with sample prefractionation and multiple enzyme digestion. In total, 1026 proteins were identified. All identified proteins were compared to those in the NCBI non-redundant protein database, the eukaryotic orthologous groups database, and the gene ontology database to obtain functional annotation information. Functional classification revealed that the identified proteins covered nearly all major biological processes. Some proteins were spore specific and related to the survival and dispersal of T. rubrum conidia, and many proteins were important to conidial germination and response to environmental conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the proteome of T. rubrum conidia is considerably complex, and that the maintenance of conidial dormancy is an intricate and elaborate process. This data set provides the first global framework for the dormant T. rubrum conidia proteome and is a stepping stone on the way to further study of the molecular mechanisms of T. rubrum conidial germination and the maintenance of conidial dormancy.
Leng
Wenchuan
W
State Key Laboratory for Molecular Virology and Genetic Engineering, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, PR China. lengwenchuan@gmail.com
Liu
Tao
T
Li
Rui
R
Yang
Jian
J
Wei
Candong
C
Zhang
Wenliang
W
Jin
Qi
Q
D002473:Cell Wall / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030562:Databases, Protein; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D020543:Proteome; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014005:Tinea / Q000382:microbiology; D014249:Trichophyton / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity
D005656:Fungal Proteins; D020543:Proteome