Abstract
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-TOF MS). 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-TOF MS 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, although their relationships did not align with genetic phylogeny. We identified pan-dermatophyte and species- or strain-specific VOC profiles, indicating their potential for rapid, non-invasive detection of dermatophyte infections, including antifungal-resistant and epidemic strains. These patterns could enable future taxa-specific identification. Our study highlights the potential of VOCs as tools for dermatophyte taxonomy and diagnosis.