Global ITS diversity in the Sporothrix schenckii complex Xun Zhou & Anderson M. Rodrigues & Peiying Feng & G. S. de Hoog Received: 7 November 2012 / Accepted: 8 January 2013 # Mushroom Research Foundation 2013 Abstract Molecular phylogeny has revealed that sporotri- chosis is caused by several Sporothrix species which differ in clinical behavior. The complex is embedded within Ophiostoma, a genus mainly comprising fungi that live in association with bark beetles, but differs by a high virulence towards humans and other mammals. The different ecology is corroborated by phylogenetic separation. The aim of the present study was to determine the validity of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region as a marker for diagnostics of species in the clinical group, using beta- tubulin sequences to calibrate species delimitations. The topology of the two gene trees was concordant, and all clinically relevant Sporothrix species could easily be recog- nized by means of the ITS region. An increased geographic sampling did not affected delimitation success in the clinical clade of the S. schenckii complex. Keywords Sporothrix schenckii . Sporotrichosis . Taxonomy . Phylogeny . ITS . Barcoding Introduction Sporothrix stands for simply structured, single-celled conid- ia on clusters of denticles. This morphology is expressed in numerous species of the order Ophiostomatales. Main tele- omorph genus is Ophiostoma, a large group of pathogens of woody plants characteristically associated with bark-beetles (Zhou et al. 2006; Zipfel et al. 2006; Roets et al. 2006). The slimy ascospores and (syn)anamorphic conidia classified in Sporothrix, Hyalorhinocladiella and Pesotum each have particular roles in this specific habitat (Zipfel et al. 2006). Among the few exceptions with an entirely different ecolo- gy within the Ophiostomatales is Sporothrix schenckii,a widespread pathogen of humans and other mammals (Guarro et al. 1999). Sporothrix schenckii s.l. is responsible for sporotrichosis, a chronic, granulomatous, cutaneous or subcutaneous infec- tion particularly occurring in humans and cats. The most common route of infection is via traumatic implantation into the skin of otherwise healthy individuals. In immunocom- promised patients systemic and disseminated infections are observed, affecting multiple organs (Callens et al. 2006; Silva-Vergara et al. 2012). Sporothrix infections may take Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13225-013-0220-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. X. Zhou Department of Dermatology, Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China X. Zhou : A. M. Rodrigues : P. Feng : G. S. de Hoog (*) Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, PO Box 85167, 3508 AD Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: de.hoog@cbs.knaw.nl A. M. Rodrigues Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology-DMIP, Cellular Biology Division, Federal University of São Paulo-UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil P. Feng Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China G. S. de Hoog Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China G. S. de Hoog Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands G. S. de Hoog Peking University Health Science Center, Research Center for Medical Mycology, Beijing, China DOI 10.1007/s13225-013-0220-2 Fungal Diversity (2014) 66:153–165 /Published online: anuary 201 31 J 3