Fungi on the Skin: Dermatophytes and Malassezia
- Theodore C. White1,
- Keisha Findley2,
- Thomas L. Dawson Jr.3,
- Annika Scheynius4,
- Teun Boekhout5,
- Christina A. Cuomo6,
- Jun Xu7 and
- Charles W. Saunders7
- 1School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri 64110
- 2Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
- 3Procter & Gamble Company, Singapore 138547
- 4Department of Medicine Solna, Translational Immunology Unit, Karolinska Institutet and University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden SE-141 86
- 5CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 6Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
- 7Procter & Gamble Company, Mason, Ohio 45040
- Correspondence: saunders.cw{at}pg.com
Abstract
Several human skin diseases and disorders are associated with two groups of fungi, the dermatophytes and Malassezia. Although these skin-related problems are not generally life threatening, they are among the most common diseases and disorders of mankind. These fungi are phylogenetically divergent, with the dermatophytes within the Ascomycota and Malassezia within Basidiomycota. Genome analysis indicates that the adaptations to the skin environment are different in these two groups of fungi. Malassezia are dependent on host lipids and secrete lipases and phospholipases that likely release host fatty acids. The dermatophytes encode multiple enzymes with potential roles in modulating host interactions: polyketide synthases, nonribosomal peptide synthetases, LysM, proteases, kinases, and pseudokinases. These two fungal groups have maximized their interactions with the host using two very different mechanisms.
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