First draft genome sequence of the emerging sexually transmitted dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes genotype VII.

Authors

Charlotte Reid, Mohamed Adnan Asif Ali, Lara Saivanya, Nicolas Helmstetter, Yaiza Gutierrez Vazquez, Peter Ashton, Rhys A Farrer, Johanna Rhodes, Alireza Abdolrasouli, Andrew M Borman

Published in

Medical mycology. Sep 02, 2026. Epub Sep 02, 2026.

Abstract

Trichophyton mentagrophytes ITS-genotype VII (TMVII) is a globally emerging sexually transmitted dermatophyte causing severe skin infections characterised by painful, pustular lesions on the face, public area, genitalia, and trunk. To inform the prevention efforts, we present the first draft genomes of four TMVII isolates obtained from patients in the United Kingdom diagnosed between 2021 and 2025. We performed whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms. We analysed the genetic relatedness of four TMVII isolates collected from UK patients, two had travel links to Spain and the Middle East. Two further isolates including Trichophyton mentagrophytes ITS-genotype I/II obtained from a canine infection in the UK in 2025 and Trichophyton indotineae were sequenced for contextual analysis. We confirm that the TMVII strains studied here represent a highly clonal population, distinct from both zoophilic T. mentagrophytes genotype I/II, and anthropophilic T. indotineae.

PMID:
42684036
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.

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