@article{mbs:/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.26690-0, author = "Jousson, Olivier and Léchenne, Barbara and Bontems, Olympia and Capoccia, Sabrina and Mignon, Bernard and Barblan, Jachen and Quadroni, Manfredo and Monod, Michel", title = "Multiplication of an ancestral gene encoding secreted fungalysin preceded species differentiation in the dermatophytes Trichophyton and Microsporum", journal= "Microbiology", year = "2004", volume = "150", number = "2", pages = "301-310", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.26690-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.26690-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2080", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "Dermatophytes are human and animal pathogenic fungi which cause cutaneous infections and grow exclusively in the stratum corneum, nails and hair. In a culture medium containing soy proteins as sole nitrogen source a substantial proteolytic activity was secreted by Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Microsporum canis. This proteolytic activity was 55–75 % inhibited by o-phenanthroline, attesting that metalloproteases were secreted by all three species. Using a consensus probe constructed on previously characterized genes encoding metalloproteases (MEP) of the M36 fungalysin family in Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus oryzae and M. canis, a five-member MEP family was isolated from genomic libraries of T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and M. canis. A phylogenetic analysis of genomic and protein sequences revealed a robust tree consisting of five main clades, each of them including a MEP sequence type from each dermatophyte species. Each MEP type was remarkably conserved across species (72–97 % amino acid sequence identity). The tree topology clearly indicated that the multiplication of MEP genes in dermatophytes occurred prior to species divergence. In culture medium containing soy proteins as a sole nitrogen source secreted Meps accounted for 19–36 % of total secreted protein extracts; characterization of protein bands by proteolysis and mass spectrometry revealed that the three dermatophyte species secreted two Meps (Mep3 and Mep4) encoded by orthologous genes.", }