The genus Akanthomyces (Ascomycota, Hypocreales) includes entomopathogenic species known to infect a variety of insects and spiders. In this study, we present the first isolate of A. ampullifer characterized by molecular methods, found on dead bodies of the common cave limoniid Limonia nubeculosa (Diptera) in the subterranean spaces of southwestern Germany. In total, seven specimens exhibited distinctive morphological traits that, when compared with historical records, confirm their identification as A. ampullifer-particularly noted for its affinity to dipteran hosts. Absent from culture collections and molecular repositories, this species has eluded detailed scientific documentation using modern methods. Our research bridges this knowledge gap, providing the first genetic identification barcodes of five genes, living culture, cultivation requirements, and an updated description. This overlooked fungus is phylogenetically most closely related to the species A. pyralidarum, A. laosensis, and some other species mostly associated with adult moths. It demonstrates a unique morphological signature with monoblastic phialides forming a layer on the surface of synnemata and produces long, cylindrical, chain-forming conidia. It prefers lower temperatures, exhibiting an inability to grow at 25 °C, coupled with notably slow growth in culture.

• Klíčová slova
• Cordycipitaceae, Limonia nubeculosa, crane flies, entomogenous fungi, multigene phylogeny,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Spontaneous mycosis caused by Aureobasidium pullulans is documented in roach in a cyprinid-prevalent water reservoir in Czechia. Gross pathological lesions included pale gills and splenomegaly, as revealed during necropsy examination. Histological examination showed extensive foci with fungal elements in the kidney. The isolated fungus was identified through phenotypic and molecular characterization, including phylogeny. This report represents the first case of A. pullulans infection in fish and cold-blooded vertebrates, to the best of our knowledge.

• Klíčová slova
• Black yeasts, Histopathology, Molecular diagnosis, Nuclear erythrocyte abnormalities, Spontaneous mycosis,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• kazuistiky MeSH

This study looked for correlations between molecular identification, clinical manifestation, and morphology for Trichophyton interdigitale and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. For this purpose, a total of 110 isolates were obtained from Czech patients with various clinical manifestations of dermatophytosis. Phenotypic characters were analyzed, and the strains were characterized using multilocus sequence typing. Among the 12 measured/scored phenotypic features, statistically significant differences were found only in growth rates at 37 °C and in the production of spiral hyphae, but none of these features is diagnostic. Correlations were found between T. interdigitale and higher age of patients and between clinical manifestations such as tinea pedis or onychomychosis. The MLST approach showed that internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genotyping of T. mentagrophytes isolates has limited practical benefits because of extensive gene flow between sublineages. Based on our results and previous studies, there are few taxonomic arguments for preserving both species names. The species show a lack of monophyly and unique morphology. On the other hand, some genotypes are associated with predominant clinical manifestations and sources of infections, which keep those names alive. This practice is questionable because the use of both names confuses identification, leading to difficulty in comparing epidemiological studies. The current identification method using ITS genotyping is ambiguous for some isolates and is not user-friendly. Additionally, identification tools such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry fail to distinguish these species. To avoid further confusion and to simplify identification in practice, we recommend using the name T. mentagrophytes for the entire complex. When clear differentiation of populations corresponding to T. interdigitale and Trichophyton indotineae is possible based on molecular data, we recommend optionally using a variety rank: T. mentagrophytes var. interdigitale and T. mentagrophytes var. indotineae.

Species in the T. mentagrophytes complex lack support from usual taxonomic methods and simple identification tools are missing or inaccurate. To avoid recurring confusions, we propose naming the entire complex as T. mentagrophytes and optionally use rank variety to classify the observed variability.

• Klíčová slova
• anthropophilic dermatophytes, dermatophytosis, multigene phylogeny, skin infections, zoophilic dermatophytes,
• MeSH
• Arthrodermataceae MeSH
• DNA fungální genetika   chemie   MeSH
• fenotyp MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• mezerníky ribozomální DNA genetika   chemie   MeSH
• multilokusová sekvenční typizace veterinární   MeSH
• sekvenční analýza DNA veterinární   MeSH
• tinea * diagnóza   veterinární   MeSH
• Trichophyton MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH
• Názvy látek
• DNA fungální MeSH
• mezerníky ribozomální DNA MeSH

Aspergillus section Candidi encompasses white- or yellow-sporulating species mostly isolated from indoor and cave environments, food, feed, clinical material, soil and dung. Their identification is non-trivial due to largely uniform morphology. This study aims to re-evaluate the species boundaries in the section Candidi and present an overview of all existing species along with information on their ecology. For the analyses, we assembled a set of 113 strains with diverse origin. For the molecular analyses, we used DNA sequences of three house-keeping genes (benA, CaM and RPB2) and employed species delimitation methods based on a multispecies coalescent model. Classical phylogenetic methods and genealogical concordance phylogenetic species recognition (GCPSR) approaches were used for comparison. Phenotypic studies involved comparisons of macromorphology on four cultivation media, seven micromorphological characters and growth at temperatures ranging from 10 to 45 °C. Based on the integrative approach comprising four criteria (phylogenetic and phenotypic), all currently accepted species gained support, while two new species are proposed (A. magnus and A. tenebricus). In addition, we proposed the new name A. neotritici to replace an invalidly described A. tritici. The revised section Candidi now encompasses nine species, some of which manifest a high level of intraspecific genetic and/or phenotypic variability (e.g., A. subalbidus and A. campestris) while others are more uniform (e.g., A. candidus or A. pragensis). The growth rates on different media and at different temperatures, colony colours, production of soluble pigments, stipe dimensions and vesicle diameters contributed the most to the phenotypic species differentiation. Taxonomic novelties: New species: Aspergillus magnus Glässnerová & Hubka; Aspergillus neotritici Glässnerová & Hubka; Aspergillus tenebricus Houbraken, Glässnerová & Hubka. Citation: Glässnerová K, Sklenář F, Jurjević Ž, Houbraken J, Yaguchi T, Visagie CM, Gené J, Siqueira JPZ, Kubátová A, Kolařík M, Hubka V (2022). A monograph of Aspergillus section Candidi. Studies in Mycology 102: 1-51. doi: 10.3114/sim.2022.102.01.

• Klíčová slova
• Aspergillus candidus, Aspergillus tritici, genealogical concordance, integrative taxonomy, intraspecific variability, multispecies coalescent model,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Microsporum canis is considered one of the most common zoophilic dermatophyte species causing infections in animals and humans worldwide. However, molecular epidemiological studies on this dermatophyte are still rare. In this study, we aimed to analyse the population structure and relationships between M. canis strains (n = 66) collected in southern Italy and those isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic animals (cats, dogs and rabbits) and humans. For subtyping purposes, using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT), we first used a limited set of strains to screen for variability. No intraspecies variability was detected in six out of the eight reference genes tested and only the ITS and IGS regions showed two and three sequence genotypes, respectively, resulting in five MLST genotypes. All of eight genes were, however, useful for discrimination among M. canis, M. audouinii and M. ferrugineum. In total, eighteen microsatellite genotypes (A-R) were recognized using MLMT based on six loci, allowing a subdivision of strains into two clusters based on the Bayesian iterative algorithm. Six MLMT genotypes were from multiple host species, while 12 genotypes were found only in one host. There were no statistically significant differences between clusters in terms of host spectrum and the presence or absence of lesions. Our results confirmed that the MLST approach is not useful for detailed subtyping and examining the population structure of M. canis, while microsatellite analysis is a powerful tool for conducting surveillance studies and gaining insight into the epidemiology of infections due to this pathogen.

• Klíčová slova
• genetic diversity, microsatellite typing, multilocus sequence typing, population structure, zoonotic infections, zoophilic dermatophytes,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Pathogens from the Trichophyton benhamiae complex are one of the most important causes of animal mycoses with significant zoonotic potential. In light of the recently revised taxonomy of this complex, we retrospectively identified 38 Trichophyton isolates that could not be resolved into any of the existing species. These strains were isolated from Iranian and Czech patients during molecular epidemiological surveys on dermatophytosis and were predominantly associated with highly inflammatory tinea corporis cases, suggesting possible zoonotic etiology. Subsequent phylogenetic (4 markers), population genetic (10 markers), and phenotypic analyses supported recognition of two novel species. The first species, Trichophyton persicum sp. nov., was identified in 36 cases of human dermatophytosis and one case of feline dermatophytosis, mainly in Southern and Western Iran. The second species, Trichophyton spiraliforme sp. nov., is only known from a single case of tinea corporis in a Czech patient who probably contracted the infection from a dog. Although the zoonotic sources of infections summarized in this study are very likely, little is known about the host spectrum of these pathogens. Awareness of these new pathogens among clinicians should refine our knowledge about their poorly explored geographic distribution. IMPORTANCE In this study, we describe two novel agents of dermatophytosis and summarize the clinical manifestation of infections. These new pathogens were discovered thanks to long-term molecular epidemiological studies conducted in Czechia and Iran. Zoonotic origins of the human infections are highly probable, but the animal hosts of these pathogens are poorly known. Further research is needed to refine our knowledge about these new dermatophytes.

• Klíčová slova
• Trichophyton benhamiae complex, dermatophytosis, molecular epidemiology, multigene phylogeny, skin mycoses, zoonotic infections, zoophilic dermatophytes,
• MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mikrosatelitní repetice genetika   MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• nemoci koček mikrobiologie   přenos   MeSH
• nemoci psů mikrobiologie   přenos   MeSH
• nemoci skotu mikrobiologie   přenos   MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• psi MeSH
• retrospektivní studie MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• skot MeSH
• tinea epidemiologie   mikrobiologie   přenos   MeSH
• Trichophyton klasifikace   genetika   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• zoonózy mikrobiologie   přenos   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• psi MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• skot MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika epidemiologie   MeSH
• Írán epidemiologie   MeSH

Trichophyton quinckeanum, a zoophilic dermatophyte mostly known as the causative agent of rodent favus, is relatively rarely reported to cause human infections. Indeed, no infections were detected in Czechia between 2012 and 2015 despite routine verification of species identification by ITS rDNA sequencing. By contrast, 25 human and 11 animal cases of infection were documented from December 2016 to December 2020 and the rates tended to grow every following year. Interestingly, most of the cases were reported in the Olomouc region, suggesting a local outbreak. We bring the evidence that human T. quinckeanum infections are most commonly contracted from infected cats or, less frequently, dogs. Although rodents or contaminated soil and environment could be the source of infection to cats and dogs, the occurrence of infections in multiple animals in the same household suggests direct transmission among animals. Confirmation of the identification by molecular methods is highly recommended due to morphological similarity with T. mentagrophytes/T. interdigitale. Antifungal susceptibility testing of isolates to eight antifungals was performed using EUCAST methodology (E.Def 11.0). Among the tested antifungals, terbinafine, amorolfine, ciclopirox and efinaconazole were most potent in vitro and elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations were obtained for fluconazole and ketoconazole.

• Klíčová slova
• EUCAST, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, antifungal susceptibility testing, terbinafine, tinea capitis, tinea corporis, zoonotic infections, zoophilic dermatophytes,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Since the last revision in 2015, the taxonomy of section Flavipedes evolved rapidly along with the availability of new species delimitation techniques. This study aims to re-evaluate the species boundaries of section Flavipedes members using modern delimitation methods applied to an extended set of strains (n = 90) collected from various environments. The analysis used DNA sequences of three house-keeping genes (benA, CaM, RPB2) and consisted of two steps: application of several single-locus (GMYC, bGMYC, PTP, bPTP) and multi-locus (STACEY) species delimitation methods to sort the isolates into putative species, which were subsequently validated using DELINEATE software that was applied for the first time in fungal taxonomy. As a result, four new species are introduced, i.e. A. alboluteus, A. alboviridis, A. inusitatus and A. lanuginosus, and A. capensis is synonymized with A. iizukae. Phenotypic analyses were performed for the new species and their relatives, and the results showed that the growth parameters at different temperatures and colonies characteristics were useful for differentiation of these taxa. The revised section harbors 18 species, most of them are known from soil. However, the most common species from the section are ecologically diverse, occurring in the indoor environment (six species), clinical samples (five species), food and feed (four species), droppings (four species) and other less common substrates/environments. Due to the occurrence of section Flavipedes species in the clinical material/hospital environment, we also evaluated the susceptibility of 67 strains to six antifungals (amphotericin B, itraconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, isavuconazole, terbinafine) using the reference EUCAST method. These results showed some potentially clinically relevant differences in susceptibility between species. For example, MICs higher than those observed for A. fumigatus wild-type were found for both triazoles and amphotericin B for A. ardalensis, A. iizukae, and A. spelaeus whereas A. lanuginosus, A. luppiae, A. movilensis, A. neoflavipes, A. olivimuriae and A. suttoniae were comparable to or more susceptible as A. fumigatus. Finally, terbinafine was in vitro active against all species except A. alboviridis.

• Klíčová slova
• Antifungal susceptibility testing, Aspergillus alboluteus F. Sklenar, Jurjević, Ezekiel, Houbraken & Hubka, Aspergillus alboviridis J.P.Z. Siqueira, Gené, F. Sklenar & Hubka, Aspergillus flavipes, Aspergillus inusitatus F. Sklenar, C. Silva Pereira, Houbraken & Hubka, Aspergillus lanuginosus F. Sklenar & Hubka, Clinical fungi, Indoor fungi, Multigene phylogeny, Soil-borne fungi, Species delimitation,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The enzymatic and antifungal profiles of dermatophytes play an important role in causing infections in humans and animals. This study aimed to assess the virulence factors produced by Microsporum canis strains, in vitro antifungal profile and the relationship between virulence, antifungal profile and occurrence of lesions in animals and humans. A total of 100 M. canis strains from humans with tinea corporis (n = 10) and from animals presenting (n = 64) or not (n = 26) skin lesions was employed to evaluate phospholipase (Pz), hemolytic (Hz), lipase (Lz), catalase (Ca), and thermotolerance (GI) activities. In addition, in vitro antifungal profile was conducted using the CLSI broth microdilution method. A statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in Lz and Ca values was revealed among strains from hosts with and without lesions. Voriconazole, terbinafine, and posaconazole were the most active drugs followed by ketoconazole, griseofulvin, itraconazole, and fluconazole in decreasing activity order. The significant positive correlation between azole susceptibility profile of M. canis and virulence factors (i.e., hemolysin and catalase) suggest that both enzyme patterns and antifungal susceptibility play a role in the appearance of skin lesions in animals and humans.

• Klíčová slova
• Microsporum canis, antifungal susceptibility testing, catalase, dermatophytes, phospholipase, thermotolerance, virulence enzymes,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The rising number of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) admitted every year to wildlife rehabilitation centres might be a source of concern to animal and public health since transmissible diseases, such as dermatophytosis, can be easily disseminated. This study seeks to evaluate the frequency of dermatophyte detection in hedgehogs admitted to a wildlife rehabilitation centre located near Paris, France, and to assess the risk of contamination in the centre in order to adapt prevention measures. A longitudinal cohort study was performed on 412 hedgehogs hosted at the Wildlife Animal Hospital of the Veterinary College of Alfort from January to December 2016. Animals were sampled once a month for fungal culture. Dermatophyte colonies were obtained from 174 out of 686 skin samples (25.4%). Besides Trichophyton erinacei, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Nannizzia gypsea were also found. Dermatophyte detection seemed to be associated with the presence of skin lesions, while more than one-third of T. erinacei-positive animals were asymptomatic carriers. Healing required several months of treatment with topical and systemic azoles, but dermatophytosis did not seem to reduce the probability of release. Daily disinfection procedures and early detection and treatment of infected and asymptomatic carriers succeeded in limiting dermatophyte transmission between hedgehogs and humans.

• Klíčová slova
• Trichophyton, dermatophyte, dermatophytosis, hedgehog, rescue centre,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH