<strong>Paper Title</strong><br>
Trichophyton Rubrum: Identification And Molecular Typing<br>
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<strong>Abstract</strong><br>
Introduction: 
Trichophyton rubrum is a cosmopolitan and anthropophilic dermatophyte. It is responsible for superficial mycosis in humans and causes various clinical lesions. However, these pathogens can sometimes be difficult to identify by phenotypic methods. The use of molecular biology is needed to resolve these identification problems.
The objectives of our study were to evaluate the efficacy of the PCR- RFLP and PCR-Sequencing methods for the identification and differentiation of T.rubrum strains.
Material and methods:
It is a prospective study made during a period from 2019 to 2020, involving 38 strains of T. rubrum isolated in the Mycology Parasitology laboratory of the Habib Bourguiba University hospital. DNA was extracted using QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN). Molecular Identification of our strains was performed by PCR-ITS amplification followed by a digestion with four restriction enzymes (HinfI, MvaI, HaeIII and DdeI).
Results:
After PCR amplification, we obtained bands of 692, 684 and 600 bp. PCR products digested by each of the 4 enzymes, produced 7 different profiles: H1-H7 for HinfI, M1-M7 for MvaI, A-G for HaeIII and D1-D7 for DdeI. H1-M1-A-D1 was the predominant profile (27/38 strains). ITS sequence analysis, carried out for 10 strains, confirmed the morphological identification of 6 strains of T. rubrum with only 1 type of sequence obtained. The alignment of this sequence showed a percentage of similarity of 100% with the other sequences of T. rubrum deposited in the GenBank. PCR-RFLP and sequencing rectified the results of the morphological identification for 4 strains. 
Conclusion:
T.rubrum represents the first agent of superficial dermatophytomycosis in our region and in the world. PCR-RFLP allowed us to resolve the difficulties of morphological identification of this agent by rectifying the species diagnosis for some cases. PCR-sequencing is a very powerful method for the exact identification of T. rubrum. It confirmed the polymorphism found by PCR-RFLP.

 Keywords - T. rubrum, Molecular Typing, PCR-RFLP, PCR-Sequencing