Project description:Trichophyton rubrum, an anthropophilic and cosmopolitan fungus, is the most common agent of superficial mycoses, causing rarely deep dermatophytosis in immunocompromised hosts.
Project description:Trichophyton rubrum, an anthropophilic and cosmopolitan fungus, is the most common agent of superficial mycoses, causing rarely deep dermatophytosis in immunocompromised hosts. In this study, an infection condition of T. rubrum was modeled by adding human skin sections into a limited medium containing glucose to monitor T. rubrum gene expression patterns using cDNA microarrays on a global level. We found that exposure to human skin resulted in up-regulation of the expression levels of T. rubrum genes related to many cellular and biological processes, including transcription and translation, metabolism and secondary transport, stress response, and signaling pathways. These results provide a reference set of T. rubrum genes whose expression patterns change upon infection and reveal previously unknown genes that probably corresponding to proteins that should be considered as virulence factor candidates and potential new drug targets for T. rubrum infections.
Project description:Trichophyton rubrum is a pathogenic fungus infecting human skin, hairs and nails. These substrates are low in most nutrients required for fungal growth and consequently are colonized only by very few fungal species. Especially, concentration of trace elements is low and a limiting factor for fungal growth. T. rubrum is a highly specialist fungus and adapted to this environment. By in-vitro experiments, we analyzed the influence of trace-elements on mRNA expression. We measured gene expression by RNAseq of two T. rubrum strains, STRB008 and STRB012, in three different cultivation condition, each in 6 replications. Keratin medium, without sugar supply, was used as basic medium. In the second condition, we added trace-elements to the keratin medium. In the third condition, we added glucose. We point to the evolutionary adaption of the fungus to the human skin. T. rubrum has a sophisticated system for the digestion and utilization of human skin protein and a relative low demand for trace-elements.
Project description:Under the action of Trichophyton 1000 UG / ml, the colony of Trichophyton mentagrophyte was completely inhibited. The spore number and germination rate of Trichophyton mentagrophyte under the action of 100ug / ml and 10ug / ml were significantly lower than those in the control group. Under the action of Trichophyton, the mitochondria in the mycelium of Trichophyton mentagrophyte were cleaved. Under the action of trichomycin, the related genes in mitochondria decreased significantly. This showed that mitochondria were obviously damaged during trichomycin treatment. It is speculated that Trichophyton can cause mitochondrial damage and reduce the efficiency of respiratory chain, but Trichophyton can synthesize enough ATP by regulating related ATP synthase to resist the invasive effect caused by Trichophyton stimulation.
