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Comparative Analysis of Putative Virulence-Associated Factors of Microsporum canis Isolates from Human and Animal Patients

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Abstract

Microsporum canis is a zoophilic dermatophyte and the most common fungus isolated from dogs and cats worldwide. To invade skin, this pathogen uses different enzymes, which may be associated with virulence, that contribute to the fungal pathogenicity. The aim of this study is to compare the expression of enzymes that may be associated with virulence, and thermotolerance of M. canis strains isolated from dogs, cats, and humans. The in vitro expression of the enzymes keratinase, catalase, urease, hemolysin, and aspartic protease was evaluated in 52 M. canis strains recently isolated from 14 human patients, 12 dogs, 15 symptomatic, and 11 asymptomatic cats. In addition, thermotolerance was assessed by comparative analysis of fungal growth at 25 °C and 35 °C. Keratinase activity was low in 34 and moderate in 18 strains. Aspartic-protease activity was low in 7, moderate in 33, and high in 12 strains. Hemolysin activity was low in 44 and moderate in 8 strains. All strains were classified as low producers of catalase. All but three strains produced urease in vitro, with a broad range of activity. The strains presented in vitro growth at the two studied temperatures were classified as presenting low (36.5%), medium (44.3%), or high (19.2%) thermotolerance. There was no statistically significant difference in the new putative virulence-associated factors studied among the different hosts, which suggests that they may have a similar role on human, cat, and dog infection. Also, no difference was observed between strains isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic cats. This suggests that these factors have a limited impact on the fate of feline dermatophytosis caused by M. canis.

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Availability of Data and Material

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank Levi G. Cleare for his editorial assistance.

Funding

RMZ-O was supported in part by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq 302796/2017-7] and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro [FAPERJ E-26/202.527/2019]. S.A.P. is the recipient of a productivity fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (CNPq). RA-P was supported in part by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq 305487/2015-9]. This work was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mycology Laboratory, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI), Fiocruz, Av. Brazil, 4365, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21045-900, Brazil

    Mariana Lucy Mesquita Ramos, Rowena Alves Coelho, Fabio Brito-Santos, Rosely Maria Zancopé-Oliveira, Maria Helena Galdino Figueiredo-Carvalho & Rodrigo Almeida-Paes

  2. Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Rio de Janeiro (FCM-UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Davson Guimarães, Mario Premazzi & Rosane Orofino-Costa

  3. Laboratory of Clinical Research On Dermatozoonosis in Domestic Animals, Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI), Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Sandro Antônio Pereira & Isabella Dib Ferreira Gremião

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  1. Mariana Lucy Mesquita Ramos
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Contributions

MLMR, RMZ-O, and RA-P helped in conceptualization; MLMR, RAC, FB-S, DG, MP, and MHGF-C contributed to methodology; MLMR, SAP, IDFG, RO-C, MHGF-C, and RA-P formally analyzed and investigated; MLMR and MHGF-C wrote the original draft preparation; all authors wrote the review and edited; SAP, RMZ-O, and RA-P helped in funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Helena Galdino Figueiredo-Carvalho.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

The inclusion of human patients in this study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (INI/Fiocruz) (CAAE: 62420416.1.0000.5262) and HUPE/UERJ (CAAE: 62420416.1.3001.5259). The Ethics Committee for Animal Use of Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (LW-9/18) approved the study of dogs and cats.

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Ramos, M.L.M., Coelho, R.A., Brito-Santos, F. et al. Comparative Analysis of Putative Virulence-Associated Factors of Microsporum canis Isolates from Human and Animal Patients. Mycopathologia 185, 665–673 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-020-00470-9

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