Current progress in the biology of members of the Sporothrix schenckii complex following the genomic era

Abstract

Sporotrichosis has been attributed for more than a century to one single etiological agent, Sporothrix schencki. Only eight years ago, it was described that, in fact, the disease is caused by several pathogenic cryptic species. The present review will focus on recent advances to understand the biology and virulence of epidemiologically relevant pathogenic species of the S. schenckii complex. The main subjects covered are the new clinical and epidemiological aspects including diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, the development of molecular tools, the genome database and the perspectives for study of virulence of emerging Sporothrix species.

Keywords: Sporothrix brasiliensis; Sporothrix globosa; Sporothrix schenckii; genome; molecular tools; pathogenesis.