Background: Dermatophytes are a group of keratinophilic fungi of medical importance. Despite a relatively long history of molecular taxonomic studies, there is still a need for information on genetic polymorphism in wider variety of genomic loci.
Objectives: Our goal was to study partial DNA topoisomerase 2 gene (TOP2) polymorphism in dermatophytes.
Methods: We performed DNA sequencing of TOP2 in 26 dermatophyte species along with ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing.
Results: The number of polymorphic sites in TOP2 data set was similar to that one in ITS data set. Nannizzia species formed paraphyletic group in TOP2 tree. Trichophyton simii was paraphyletic in concatenated TOP2-ITS tree, one of its two clades contained solely Iranian isolates.
Conclusions: Our results revealed several unresolved problems in the taxonomy of dermatophytes, including probable polyphyly of the genus Nannizzia and the species T simii.
Keywords: Nannizzia; Trichophyton; DNA topoisomerase 2; dermatophytes; species boundaries.
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