The clinical diagnosis of dermatophytosis and identification of dermatophytes face challenges due to reliance on culture-based methods. Rapid, cost-effective detection techniques for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been developed for other microorganisms, but their application to dermatophytes is limited. This study explores using VOCs as diagnostic markers for dermatophytes. We compared VOC profiles across different dermatophyte taxa using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and advanced analytical methods: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS). We analyzed 47 dermatophyte strains from 15 taxa grown on sheep wool, including clinically significant species. Additionally, we examined phylogenetic relationships among the strains to correlate genetic relatedness with metabolite production. Our results showed that GC×GC-TOFMS offered superior resolution but similar differentiation of VOC profiles compared to GC-MS. VOC spectra allowed reliable distinction of taxonomic units at the species level and below, however, these distinctions showed only a slight correlation with phylogenetic data. We identified pan-dermatophyte and species- or strain-specific VOC profiles, indicating their potential for rapid, non-invasive detection of dermatophyte infections, including epidemic strains. These patterns could enable future taxa-specific identification. Our study highlights the potential of VOCs as tools for dermatophyte taxonomy and diagnosis.
- Klíčová slova
- Dermatophytes, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Metabolite profiles, Volatile organic compounds,
- MeSH
- Arthrodermataceae * klasifikace izolace a purifikace genetika MeSH
- fylogeneze * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mikroextrakce na pevné fázi MeSH
- odoranty analýza MeSH
- ovce MeSH
- plynová chromatografie s hmotnostně spektrometrickou detekcí * MeSH
- těkavé organické sloučeniny * analýza MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Názvy látek
- těkavé organické sloučeniny * MeSH
