Challenges posed to the dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum by sertraline; a drug predominantly used to treat human depression

Purpose: We evaluated T. rubrum transcriptome using high-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) technology aiming to identify metabolic pathways modulated by the antidepressive sertraline. Methods: We employed the next-generation sequencing (RNA-seq) approach to identify the central responsively genes related to SRT effects. Results: we identified the main effects of sertraline as the disturbance of maintaining the fungal cell wall and plasmatic membrane stability targeting ergosterol biosynthesis. SRT also modulated genes encoding enzymes related to fungal energy metabolism, cellular detoxification, and defense against oxidative stress Conclusions: Our findings provide insights into a specific molecular network interaction operative for main-taining metabolic stability perturbed by SRT drug showing relevant targets for its strategic use in the dermatophytosis field. We examined at the transcriptomic level the effects of sertraline in Trichophyton rubrum metabolism.