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One Health approach to understand emerging zoonotic pathogens in the Trichophyton benhamiae complex
Čmoková, Adéla ; Hubka, Vít (advisor) ; Buchta, Vladimír (referee) ; Gené, Josepa (referee)
The Trichophyton benhamiae complex encompasses several zoonotic pathogens that are of increasing concern to the scientific community due to their epidemic spread among pets and their owners. Of particular concern is the sudden appearance and rapid spread of T. benhamiae yellow phenotype strains in Europe. Considerable genetic and phenotypic variability has been revealed in the pathogens from the complex, yet the species limits and host spectra have not been clearly elucidated. To explore the diversity, epidemiology, and taxonomy of the T. benhamiae complex, my colleagues and I formed an international, cross-disciplinary team and applied a holistic One Health approach. We collected a large dataset of strains from several continents, along with associated data about host, clinical picture, and locality. Due to the high level of clonality in commonly used DNA sequence markers, I developed a new typing schema based on ten microsatellite markers and four DNA sequence markers. We then used a polyphasic approach combining data from independent analyses to decide on species limits in the T. benhamiae complex, including phylogenetic and population-genetic analyses, phenotypic and physiological analyses, mating-type gene characterization, ecological data and MALDI- TOF mass spectrometry analysis. Thanks to...
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