title: Nucleotide sequence analysis of beta tubulin gene in a wide range of dermatophytes.
abstract: We investigated the resolving power of the beta tubulin protein-coding gene (BT2) for systematic study of dermatophyte fungi. Initially, 144 standard and clinical strains belonging to 26 species in the genera Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton were identified by internal transcribe spacer (ITS) sequencing. Subsequently, BT2 was partially amplified in all strains, and sequence analysis performed after construction of a BT2 database that showed length ranged from approximately 723 (T. ajelloi) to 808 nucleotides (M. persicolor) in different species. Intraspecific sequence variation was found in some species, but T. tonsurans, T. equinum, T. concentricum, T. verrucosum, T. rubrum, T. violaceum, T. eriotrephon, E. floccosum, M. canis, M. ferrugineum, and M. audouinii were invariant. The sequences were found to be relatively conserved among different strains of the same species. The species with the closest resemblance were Arthroderma benhamiae and T. concentricum and T. tonsurans and T. equinum with 100% and 99.8% identity, respectively; the most distant species were M. persicolor and M. amazonicum. The dendrogram obtained from BT2 topology was almost compatible with the species concept based on ITS sequencing, and similar clades and species were distinguished in the BT2 tree. Here, beta tubulin was characterized in a wide range of dermatophytes in order to assess intra- and interspecies variation and resolution and was found to be a taxonomically valuable gene.
authors: Departments of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Ali
authors: A
authors: Rezaei-Matehkolaei
authors: Departments of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran mirhendi@tums.ac.ir.
authors: Hossein
authors: H
authors: Mirhendi
authors: Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Koichi
authors: K
authors: Makimura
authors: Fungal Biodiversity Center, Institute of the Royal Netherlands, Academy of Arts and Sciences, Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures-KNAW, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: G Sybren
authors: GS
authors: de Hoog
authors: Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Kazuo
authors: K
authors: Satoh
authors: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Ghaem Hospital, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Mohammad Javad
authors: MJ
authors: Najafzadeh
authors: Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors: Mohammad Reza
authors: MR
authors: Shidfar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003883:Arthrodermataceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D014404:Tubulin
keywords: beta tubulin; dermatophyte; phylogeny; species identification