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Eukaryotic Cell, February 2009, p. 241-250, Vol. 8, No. 2
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00208-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Gene Expression Profiling in the Human Pathogenic Dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum during Growth on Proteins ^,

Christophe Zaugg,¹ Michel Monod,^1* Johann Weber,² Keith Harshman,² Sylvain Pradervand,² Jerome Thomas,² Manuel Bueno,² Karin Giddey,¹ and Peter Staib³

Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Av. de Beaumont 29, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland,¹ DNA Array Facility, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Genopode Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland,² Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Junior Research Group Fundamental Molecular Biology of Pathogenic Fungi, Beutenbergstr. 11a, D-07745 Jena, Germany³

Received 25 June 2008/ Accepted 5 December 2008

Dermatophytes are highly specialized filamentous fungi which cause the majority of superficial mycoses in humans and animals. The high secreted proteolytic activity of these microorganisms during growth on proteins is assumed to be linked to their particular ability to exclusively infect keratinized host structures such as the skin stratum corneum, hair, and nails. Individual secreted dermatophyte proteases were recently described and linked with the in vitro digestion of keratin. However, the overall adaptation and transcriptional response of dermatophytes during protein degradation are largely unknown. To address this question, we constructed a cDNA microarray for the human pathogenic dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum that was based on transcripts of the fungus grown on proteins. Profiles of gene expression during the growth of T. rubrum on soy and keratin protein displayed the activation of a large set of genes that encode secreted endo- and exoproteases. In addition, other specifically induced factors potentially implicated in protein utilization were identified, including heat shock proteins, transporters, metabolic enzymes, transcription factors, and hypothetical proteins with unknown functions. Of particular interest is the strong upregulation of key enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle in T. rubrum during growth on soy and keratin, namely, isocitrate lyase and malate synthase. This broad-scale transcriptional analysis of dermatophytes during growth on proteins reveals new putative pathogenicity-related host adaptation mechanisms of these human pathogenic fungi.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Service de Dermatologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Av. de Beaumont 29, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland. Phone: 41 21 31 40376. Fax: 41 21 31 40378. E-mail: Michel.Monod{at}chuv.ch

Published ahead of print on 19 December 2008.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://ec.asm.org/.

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Eukaryotic Cell, February 2009, p. 241-250, Vol. 8, No. 2
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00208-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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