engleski

Malassezia yeasts in domestic and wild animals

Malassezia yeasts are lipophilic basidiomycete fungi that colonize healthy animal skin or mucosal sites where they live in the biological equilibrium with other microorganisms. At present the genus Malassezia consist of thirteen different species that require lipid supplementation for their growth and one lipophilic, but non-lipid dependent species. The latter shows exuberant growth in the presence of lipids but also grows on ordinary Sabouraud dextrose culture media. Out of fourteen currently identified species nine is isolated from animals. M. pachydermatis is most often isolated from dogs’ skin and ear canal where the disturbance of the cutaneous microenvironment causes its overgrowth and development of dermatitis or otitis. In contrast, Malassezia dermatitis in cats is more often caused by lipophilic species. Other domestic animals such as swine, ruminants and horses harbor lipophilic species that could be occasionally associated with skin disease. Malassezia species that inhabit wild animals remain less explored. So far, reported data pointed out dominance of M. pachydermatis on wild animals’ skin. This is in agreement with our results. Namely, isolation and characterization of Malassezia spp. in bears and wolves in Croatia demonstrated only the presence of M. pachydermatis in the swabs of external ear canal and anus. However, limitation of isolation methods resulted in the lack of specific molecular and functional characterization of this genus not only in wild but also in domestic animals. Therefore, pathogenesis of Malassezia is still not clear. However it is connected with both: yeast virulence factors and skin and its immune response. In this presentation a short overview will be given on the Malassezia epidemiology in domestic and wild animals, and useful molecular biology methods in yielding Malassezia epidemiological data will be described.

Malassezia yeasts ; animals ; epidemiological data

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