Microbiology Spectrum · Published 2026-08-04 · DOI 10.1128/spectrum.03483-25
Himani Singh, Chitra Latka, Rahul Chakraborty, Leepakshi Dhingra, Sherry Bhalla, Bhupesh Taneja
ABSTRACT Dermatophytes are a class of keratinophilic skin fungi that invade host skin, hair, and nails to acquire nutrients. An integrated multi-omics approach utilizing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and RNA-seq after growth in a protein-rich soy medium was employed to capture the major subset of secreted protein families of Trichophyton rubrum. The secretome consisted mainly of proteases and cell wall-degrading enzymes, with subtilisins (Sub6 and Sub7), metallopeptidase (LAP2), and chitinase having the most abundant peptides. Transcriptional profiling indicated fungal adaptation in protein-rich media to process the protein nutrients through modulation of metabolism and general cellular function pathways. Correlation analysis between proteomics and transcriptomics data using functional KOG categories shows high concordance of KOG categories O (posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperones), P (inorganic ion transport and metabolism), and G (carbohydrate transport and metabolism), as per cosine similarity analysis.IMPORTANCEDermatophytes are keratinophilic skin fungal pathogens that invade host skin, hair, and nails to acquire nutrients. There is an epidemic-like increase in infections, as well as an increase in antimicrobial resistance among dermatophytes, as witnessed over the last decade. There is hence a need to understand the key pathways and virulence factors required during growth and infection. We present an integrated multi-omics analysis (proteomics and transcriptomics data) using a vector-based similarity approach to show high concordance of KOG functional categories belonging to posttranslational modification, protein turnover, carbohydrate transport, and metabolism.
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Singh, H., Latka, C., Chakraborty, R., et al. (2026). An integrated proteomics and transcriptomics analysis highlights concordance between protein turnover and carbohydrate transport and metabolism as key functional categories during the growth of Trichophyton rubrum. Microbiology Spectrum. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.03483-25