毛癣菌是刺猬皮肤癣菌病的主要原因,并且在全球范围内越来越多地报道人类感染。这种病原体最初在欧洲刺猬(Erinaceuseuropaeus)中描述,但在非洲四趾刺猬(Atelerixalbiventris)中也经常发现,全世界流行的宠物。尽管这种病原体在临床实践中的重要性日益增加,但对其分类学和种群遗传学知之甚少。值得注意的是,是否有不同的种群或甚至神秘物种与不同的宿主或地理区域是未知的。为了回答这些问题,我们收集了161个分离株,进行了系统发育和群体遗传分析,确定的交配类型,和特征性的形态学和生理学。多基因系统发育和微卫星分析支持丁香作为单系物种,与高度不一致的单基因系统发育相反。两个主要亚群,一个主要是Atelerix,第二个是Erinaceus主机,在木耳弧菌体内被确认,并且观察到它们之间的微分生孢子的大小和抗真菌敏感性略有差异。尽管在木耳中物种形成为两个谱系的过程正在进行中,这些种群之间仍然存在基因流动。因此,我们把木耳虫草作为一个单一的物种,在基因型和表型上具有明显的种内变异性。野生刺猬的数据表明,木耳弧菌的有性繁殖和土壤中刺猬的从头感染可能是罕见的事件,并且克隆水平传播占主导地位。本研究中使用的分子分型方法代表了在动物和人类中进一步流行病学监测这种新兴病原体的合适工具。这项研究的结果还强调了理想地将多基因系统发育与其他独立的分子标记结合使用以了解皮肤癣菌的物种边界的必要性。引文:SCImokováA,科拉夏克,GuillotJ,etal.2022年。刺猬真菌中宿主驱动的亚种,小毛癣菌,人类皮肤癣菌病的新原因。Persoonia48:203-218。https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2022.48.06.
Trichophyton erinacei is a main cause of dermatophytosis in hedgehogs and is increasingly reported from human infections worldwide. This pathogen was originally described in the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) but is also frequently found in the African four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), a popular pet animal worldwide. Little is known about the taxonomy and population genetics of this pathogen despite its increasing importance in clinical practice. Notably, whether there are different populations or even cryptic species associated with different hosts or geographic regions is not known. To answer these questions, we collected 161 isolates, performed phylogenetic and population-genetic analyses, determined mating-type, and characterised morphology and physiology. Multigene phylogeny and microsatellite analysis supported T. erinacei as a monophyletic species, in contrast to highly incongruent single-gene phylogenies. Two main subpopulations, one specific mainly to Atelerix and second to Erinaceus hosts, were identified inside T. erinacei, and slight differences in the size of microconidia and antifungal susceptibilities were observed among them. Although the process of speciation into two lineages is ongoing in T. erinacei, there is still gene flow between these populations. Thus, we present T. erinacei as a single species, with notable intraspecies variability in genotype and phenotype. The data from wild hedgehogs indicated that sexual reproduction in T. erinacei and de novo infection of hedgehogs from soil are probably rare events and that clonal horizontal spread strongly dominates. The molecular typing approach used in this study represents a suitable tool for further epidemiological surveillance of this emerging pathogen in both animals and humans. The results of this study also highlighted the need to use a multigene phylogeny ideally in combination with other independent molecular markers to understand the species boundaries of dermatophytes. Citation: Čmoková A, Kolařík M, Guillot J, et al. 2022. Host-driven subspeciation in the hedgehog fungus, Trichophyton erinacei, an emerging cause of human dermatophytosis. Persoonia 48: 203-218. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2022.48.06.