Use of Padlock Probes and Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA) for Rapid Identification of Trichophyton Species, Related to Human and Animal Disorder

Zakeri, Hamideh; Shokohi, Tahereh; Badali, Hamid; Mayahi, Saba; Didehdar, Mojtaba

Members of the genus Trichophyton are the most common agents of dermatophytosis in humans and other animals, and are associated with a variety of clinical aspects (1) (2) (3) . The most frequent species of dermatophytes are Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans, and T. rubrum, and these species cause a multiplicity of cutaneous disorders. They are keratinophilic fungi that attack keratinized tissue and cause a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations that vary from mild to severe, but infections are not life-threatening. Owing to the high degree of phenotypic similarity among species, identification is difficult. Conventional approaches for species-level identification in the diagnostic laboratory are based on morphological and physiological criteria, require several days or weeks to obtain results, and are frequently unspecific. To overcome these problems, molecular techniques have recently been developed to rapidly and precisely identify species of Trichophyton that potentially cause human infection.