Horizontal gene transfer in Malassezia

Malassezia species are the main fungal components of the mammalians skin microbiome. Malassezia fungi are important because they have been foundare associated with a number of skin disorders in mammals, including dandruff, atopic eczema, and pityriasis versicolor. Recently Malassezia has also been found in association with Crohn's Disease and with pancreatic cancer. In this study we employed evolutionary, molecular, biochemical, and structural analyses to demonstrate that the horizontal gene transfer of the bacterial flavohemoglobins Yhb1 in Malassezia resulted in a gain of function critical for resistance to nitrosative stress and detoxification of nitric oxide under aerobic conditions. We have also identified several additional genus- and species-specific horizontal gene transfer events that are predicted to have contributed to Malassezia evolution and speciation.