title: The dermatophyte species Arthroderma benhamiae: intraspecies variability and mating behaviour.
abstract: Arthroderma benhamiae is a zoophilic dermatophyte belonging to the Trichophyton mentagrophytes species complex. Here, a population of A. benhamiae wild strains from the same geographical area (Switzerland) was studied by comparing their morphology, assessing their molecular variability using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S rRNA gene sequencing, and evaluating their interfertility. Sequencing of the ITS region and of part of the 28S rRNA gene revealed the existence of two infraspecific groups with markedly different colony phenotypes: white (group I) and yellow (group II), respectively. For all strains, the results of mating type identification by PCR, using HMG (high-mobility group) and α-box genes in the mating type locus as targets, were in total accordance with the results of mating type identification by strain confrontation experiments. White-phenotype strains were of mating type + (mt+) or mating type - (mt-), whilst yellow-phenotype strains were all mt-. White and yellow strains were found to produce fertile cleistothecia after mating with A. benhamiae reference tester strains, which belonged to a third group intermediate between groups I and II. However, no interfertility was observed between yellow strains and white strains of mt+. A significant result was that white strains of mt- were able to mate and produce fertile cleistothecia with the white A. benhamiae strain CBS 112371 (mt+), the genome of which has recently been sequenced and annotated. This finding should offer new tools for investigating the biology and genetics of dermatophytes using wild-type strains.
authors.affiliation: Mycology & Aerobiology Section, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Symoens
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jousson
authors.affiliation: Mycology & Aerobiology Section, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Packeu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fratti
authors.affiliation: Junior Research Group Fundamental Molecular Biology of Pathogenic Fungi, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Staib
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mignon
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monod
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003883:Arthrodermataceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D004285:Dogs; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / Q000235:genetics; D014005:Tinea / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S