Abstract: Objective: To preliminarily determine skin fungal community in the patients with tinea pedis. Methods: The samples of skin fungal community in lesions and symmetrical healthy sites were collected by cotton swab wiping. The differences in fungal community between groups were compared by ITS1 region, which was analyzed by PCR amplification and high throughput sequencing. Results: In total, 283 genera were detected in 24 samples. The abundance of Trichophyton in lesions (24.98%) was higher than in symmetrical healthy sites (6.22%), with a significant difference (P＜0.05). The α diversity indexes showed no significant difference in fungal diversity between lesions and control sites (P＞0.05). Nevertheless, there was significant difference in the structure of fungal community between the interdigital lesions and the control sites (P＜0.05). Furthermore, PCR analysis showed that the Arthrodermataceae, Trichosporonidae and Nectriaceae contributed most to the differences in fungal community structure. Conclusion: The skin fungal community in the patients with tinea pedis exhibited tremendous diversity and complex structure. 

Key words: high throughput sequencing, Tinea pedis, Fungal community