SummaryProstate cancer resistance to castration occurs because tumors acquire the metabolic capability of converting precursor steroids to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), promoting signaling by the androgen receptor (AR) and the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)1–3. Essential for resistance, DHT synthesis from adrenal precursor steroids or possibly from de novo synthesis from cholesterol commonly require enzymatic reactions by 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3βHSD), steroid-5α-reductase (SRD5A) and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17βHSD) isoenzymes4,5. Abiraterone, a steroidal 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17A1) inhibitor, blocks this synthetic process and prolongs survival6,7. We hypothesized that abiraterone is converted by an enzyme to the more active Δ4-abiraterone (D4A) that blocks multiple steroidogenic enzymes and antagonizes the androgen receptor (AR), providing an additional explanation for abiraterone’s clinical activity. Here we show that abiraterone is converted to D4A in mice and patients with prostate cancer. D4A inhibits CYP17A1, 3βHSD and SRD5A, which are required for DHT synthesis. Furthermore, competitive AR antagonism by D4A is comparable to the potent antagonist, enzalutamide. D4A also has more potent antitumor activity against xenograft tumors than abiraterone. Our findings suggest an additional explanation – conversion to a more active agent – for abiraterone’s survival extension. We propose that direct treatment with D4A would be more clinically effective than abiraterone treatment.

Biofilms of Candida albicans include both yeast cells and hyphae. Prior studies indicated that a zap1⌬/⌬ mutant, defective in zinc regulator Zap1, has increased accumulation of yeast cells in biofilms. This altered yeast-hypha balance may arise from internal regulatory alterations or from an effect on the production of diffusible quorum-sensing (QS) molecules. Here, we develop biosensor reporter strains that express yeastspecific YWP1-RFP or hypha-specific HWP1-RFP, along with a constitutive TDH3-GFP normalization standard. Seeding these biosensor strains into biofilms allows a biological activity assay of the surrounding biofilm milieu. A zap1⌬/⌬ biofilm induces the yeast-specific YWP1-RFP reporter in a wild-type biosensor strain, as determined by both quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) gene expression measurements and confocal microscopy. Remediation of the zap1⌬/⌬ zinc uptake defect through zinc transporter gene ZRT2 overexpression reverses induction of the yeast-specific YWP1-RFP reporter. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) measurements of known organic QS molecules show that the zap1⌬/⌬ mutant accumulates significantly less farnesol than wild-type or complemented strains and that ZRT2 overexpression does not affect farnesol accumulation. Farnesol is a well-characterized inhibitor of hypha formation; hence, a reduction in farnesol levels in zap1⌬/⌬ biofilms is unexpected. Our findings argue that a Zap1-and zinc-dependent signal affects the yeast-hypha balance and that it is operative in the low-farnesol environment of the zap1⌬/⌬ biofilm. In addition, our results indicate that Zap1 is a positive regulator of farnesol accumulation.

Background: Glycerophosphocholine (GroPCho) is a phospholipid metabolite found throughout the human body. Results: Loss of Git3 and Git4 in C. albicans abolishes GroPCho transport, and Git3-deficient cells exhibit reduced virulence. Conclusion: The major GroPCho transporter, Git3, is required for full virulence. Significance: This report is the first to identify a eukaryotic GroPCho-specific transporter and the first to implicate GroPCho utilization in pathogenicity.

Our study provides insights into the benefits and limitations of the use of a higher mass resolution and mass accuracy instrument for untargeted GC/MS-based metabolomics with multi-dimensional chromatography in future studies addressing clinical conditions or exposome studies.

Glycerophosphodiesters are the products of phospholipase-mediated deacylation of phospholipids. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single gene, GIT1, encodes a permease responsible for importing glycerophosphodiesters, such as glycerophosphoinositol and glycerophosphocholine, into the cell. In contrast, the Candida albicans genome contains four open reading frames (ORFs) with a high degree of similarity to S. cerevisiae GIT1 (ScGIT1) Here, we report that C. albicans utilizes glycerophosphoinositol (GroPIns) and glycerophosphocholine (GroPCho) as sources of phosphate at both mildly acidic and physiological pHs. Insertional mutagenesis of C. albicans GIT1 (CaGIT1) (orf19.34), the ORF most similar to ScGit1, abolished the ability of cells to use GroPIns as a phosphate source at acidic pH and to transport