Project description:Malassezia species are lipophilic and lipid dependent yeasts belonging to the human and animal microbiota. Typically, they are isolated from regions rich in sebaceous glands. They have been associated with dermatological diseases such as seborrheic dermatitis, tinea versicolor, atopic dermatitis, and folliculitis. Genome sequences of Malassezia globosa, Malassezia sympodialis, and Malassezia pachydermatis lack genes related to fatty acid synthesis. Here, lipid synthesis pathways of M. furfur, M. pachydermatis, M. globosa, M. sympodialis and an atypical variant of M. furfur were reconstructed using genome data and Constraints Based Reconstruction and Analysis. The metabolic reconstruction allowed us to predict variation in the fluxes of each reaction over the network to satisfy the biomass objective function. Proteomic profiling improved and validated the models through data integration. Results suggest that several mechanisms including steroid and butanoate metabolism explain the yeast’s growth under different lipid conditions. Flux differences were observed in production of riboflavin in M. furfur and the biosynthesis of glycerolipids in the atypical variant of M. furfur and Malassezia sympodialis.
