On the new classification of dermatophytes

Abstract

According to the recent changes in the classification of the family Arthrodermataceae, it may already include 9 genera and 79 species. Dermatophytes associated with human and animal infections belong to the genera Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton, whereas Arthroderma, Ctenomyces, Guarromyces, Lophophyton, Nannizzia and Paraphyton are mainly represented by geophilic species. Since morphological and physiological traits in fungi cannot provide reliable basis for classification, the modern system of dermatophytes was built on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences. The new dermatophyte classification employs the principle of one fungus, one name, according to which genetically similar perfect and imperfect forms belong to the same species. At the current state of genosystematics, the taxonomic identification of dermatophytes in most cases requires the use of molecular methods, in particular, DNA sequencing of the ITS region. In this review, we briefly outline the history of dermatophyte classification, summarize generic and species composition of the family and provide data on their ecology, accession numbers for reference sequences of ITS region, and references to major taxonomic publications.