1. ¹Mycology Laboratory, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
2. ²Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
3. ³Department of Public health, Medical School, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
4. ⁴Division of Ecology and Systematics, Biology Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
5. ⁵Department of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
6. ⁶Department of Dermatovenereology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China
7. ⁷Department of Dermatology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE Goteborg, Sweden

Correspondence: A Velegraki, Mycology Laboratory, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, M Asias 75–77, Goudi, Athens 11527, Greece. E-mail: aveleg@med.uoa.gr

Received 17 July 2008; Revised 2 October 2008; Accepted 8 October 2008; Published online 20 November 2008.

Abstract

Malassezia furfur was the first species described within the cosmopolitan yeast genus Malassezia, which now comprises 13 species. Reported isolation rates of these species from healthy and diseased human skin show geographic variations. PCR-fingerprinting with the wild-type phage M13 primer (5'-GAGGGTGGCGGTTCT-3') was applied to investigate phylogeographic associations of M. furfur strains isolated from Scandinavians residing permanently in Greece, in comparison to clinical isolates from Greek, Bulgarian and Chinese native residents. Seven M. furfur strains from Scandinavians were compared with the Neotype strain (CBS1878), CBS global collection strains (n=10) and clinical isolates from Greece (n=4), Bulgaria (n=15) and China (n=6). Scandinavian, Greek and Bulgarian M. furfur strains mostly formed distinct group clusters, providing initial evidence for an association with the host's geographical origin and with the underlying skin condition. These initial data address the hypothesis that M. furfur could be a eukaryotic candidate eligible for phylogeographic studies.