Comparison of efficiency of (Gaca)4 and primers targeting Its1-Its2 regions in rapid identification of dermatophytes

It is essential to correctly identified the dermatophytic fungi in order to well-understand the pathogenicity and clinical significance of such tinea. In routine practice, reliable identification of dermatophytic fungi are notoriously difficult to classify and identify. The morphology of macroconidia, which are produced abundantly under suitable conditions, in vitro, has provided useful criteria for classifying dermatophytes. However, several dermatophytic fungi, e.g., M. audouinii, M. ferrugineum, T. concentricum, T. schoenleinii, T. soudanense, T. verrucosum, T. violaceum, and T. yaoundei are rarely produce macroconidia and cannot be easily identified. The objective of this study was to analyse the design, optimization, and evaluation of real-time PCR assay in the laboratory setting. The performance of the assay was evaluated with 55 dermatophyte isolates; 29 clinical strains from our laboratory including M. canis (n = 4), T. mentagrophytes (n = 2), T. rubrum (n = 20), T. rubrum with the "raubitschekii" morphotype (n = 2), and T. tonsurans (n = 1 ) as well 26 rare macroconidia producing reference strains including above mentioned eight species. Real-time PCR correctly identified the all 12 dermatophyte species. Finally, real-time PCR assay facilitated the identification of dermatophytic species with excellent sensitivity and specificity, particularly for rare macroconidia producing species. The advantage of the assay is to provide accurate and reliable diagnosis of dermatophytic fungi.