Chitin synthase 1 (Chs1) gene sequences of Microsporum equinum and Trichophyton equinum

Chitin synthase 1 (Chs1) genes from Microsporum equinum and Trichophyton eq uinum were compared with those of the other dermatophytes. The Chs1 nucleot ide sequences of these dermatophytes from horses showed more than 80% simil arity to those of Arthroderma benhamiae, A. fulvum A. grubyi, A. gypseum, A . incruvatum, A. otae, A. simii, A. vanbreuseghemii, Epidermophyton floccos um, T. mentagrophytes var. interdigitale (T. interdigitale), T. rubrum and T. violaceum. Especially high degree of nucleotide sequence similarity of m ore than 99% was noted between the Chs1 gene fragments of M. equinum and A. otae, and those of T. equinum, T. interdigitale and A. vanbreuseghemii, re spectively. The phylogenetic analysis of their sequences revealed that M. e quinum was genetically very close to A. otae and T. equinum to A. vanbreuse ghemii. A molecular analysis of Chs1 genes will provide useful information for the genetic relatedness of M. equinum and T. equinum and confirm the va lue of DNA sequencing in identification of these two dermatophytes. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.