在19世纪晚期被确定为寄生在人类皮肤上的单一物种，马拉色菌如今被认为是一个多样性属，其中包括18个物种，不仅寄生在皮肤上，还寄生在人类肠道、医院环境甚至深海海绵中。所有培养的马拉色菌物种都是脂质依赖型的，因为它们失去了脂质合成和碳水化合物代谢的基因。马拉色菌的研究兴起是因为有了改进样本采集、培养、鉴定和基因工程的工具，这些工具有助于发现其与许多皮肤病、克罗恩病和胰腺癌等疾病的相关性。然而，人们已经认识到马拉色菌在人类健康方面起到的多方面作用，它在特应性皮炎中具有互利共生活动，并通过与皮肤病原菌如耳酵母菌的竞争潜力来预防其他皮肤感染。为了设计有针对性的干预措施，需要对复杂的微生物与宿主相互作用进行改进的了解，以明确马拉色菌在人类和动物健康与疾病中的作用。

Identified in the late nineteenth century as a single species residing on human skin, Malassezia is now recognized as a diverse genus comprising 18 species inhabiting not only skin but human gut, hospital environments, and even deep-sea sponges. All cultivated Malassezia species are lipid dependent, having lost genes for lipid synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. The surging interest in Malassezia results from development of tools to improve sampling, culture, identification, and genetic engineering, which has led to findings implicating it in numerous skin diseases, Crohn disease, and pancreatic cancer. However, it has become clear that Malassezia plays a multifaceted role in human health, with mutualistic activity in atopic dermatitis and a preventive effect against other skin infections due to its potential to compete with skin pathogens such as Candida auris. Improved understanding of complex microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions will be required to define Malassezia's role in human and animal health and disease so as to design targeted interventions.