Transcription factors in Candida albicans – environmental control of morphogenesis

Ernst, Joachim F.

doi:10.1099/00221287-146-8-1763

Cited by 273 publications

(285 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…However, fungal cells survive the adverse conditions existing inside the macrophage, which is consequently disrupted by the formation of hyphae. The morphogenetic yeast-to-hyphae transition has been extensively studied in C. albicans: this phenomenon is dependent upon the specific activation of several signal transduction pathways in response to different environmental stimuli (Brown and Gow, 1999;Ernst, 2000;Whiteway, 2000). Nevertheless, not all the signals triggering morphogenetic changes have been identified accurately, especially in the case of C. albicans macrophage infection, which has been poorly studied so far (for review, see Navarro-Garcia et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genes involved in β‐oxidation, energy metabolism and glyoxylate cycle are induced by Candida albicans during macrophage infection

Prigneau

Porta

Poudrier

et al. 2003

Yeast

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The ability of intracellular pathogens to cause infection is related to their capacity to survive and grow inside macrophages or in other cell types. Candida albicans latent virulence is likely to be related to a similar mechanism of avoiding killing by specialized cells and to the resulting ability to grow in such hostile environments. Using a differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique, we have identified seven genes induced in C. albicans during macrophage phagocytosis. Sequence analyses and database searches revealed that these cDNAs coded for proteins homologous to yeast metabolic proteins. Interestingly, four of them are putative peroxisomal proteins, and two are involved in environmental signal sensing and transduction. Among the seven genes induced by C. albicans, six represent new information that were not described in other infection models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genes involved in β‐oxidation, energy metabolism and glyoxylate cycle are induced by Candida albicans during macrophage infection

Prigneau

Porta

Poudrier

et al. 2003

Yeast

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“…In the clinic, infections in AIDS patients or granulocytopenic patients are a huge problem, recently compounded by the spread of resistance to the most commonly used anti-fungal pharmaceuticals. C. albicans is a dimorphic fungus which can alternate between yeast and filamentous growth patterns, depending on the growth conditions (Ernst, 2000). The ability to undergo this morphogenic switch is required for virulence, perhaps related to the role of the filamentous form in penetrating mucosal surfaces or evading macrophage immune surveillance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Siderophore uptake by Candida albicans: effect of serum treatment and comparison with Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Lesuisse

Knight

Camadro

et al. 2002

Yeast

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Iron uptake systems often function as virulence factors in pathogenic organisms. Candida albicans is a fungal pathogen that infects immunocompromised hosts, such as AIDS patients or granulocytopenic bone marrow transplant recipients. Here we show that iron uptake from siderophores occurs in C. albicans and is mediated by one or more highaffinity transport systems. Iron carried on ferrioxamine B, triacethyl-fusarinine, ferrichrome, or ferricrocin was actively taken up via a high-affinity mechanism. The kinetic parameters of uptake were similar to those found in S. cerevisiae. Furthermore, for ferrichrome and ferrioxamine B, cellular uptake of fluorescent analogues was observed. In C. albicans, iron uptake from siderophores was regulated by iron availability, with iron deprivation inducing uptake. Serum exposure, which induces a morphogenic shift from yeast to filamentous forms known to be required for virulence, also resulted in induction of iron transport from ferrichrome-type siderophores. In a tup1/tup1 strain which grows constitutively in the filamentous form, iron transport was derepressed for all siderophores tested. The genes mediating uptake and utilization of iron from siderophores in C. albicans have not been identified; however, the transcript abundance for CaSIT1 was regulated in a manner consistent with the pattern of iron uptake from ferrichrome-type siderophores. Furthermore, CaSIT1 overexpression in S. cerevisiae resulted in inhibited siderophore iron uptake, suggesting that the expressed protein may interact with proteins of S. cerevisiae involved in iron uptake from siderophores. In summary, iron uptake from ferrichrome-type siderophores was induced in filamentous C. albicans, and a potential role of this iron acquisition system in pathogenicity should be considered.

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“…A diverse range of environmental stimuli can induce C. albicans hyphal or pseudohyphal growth, such as serum, neutral pH, appropriate temperature, certain amino acids and sugars, and some synthetic growth media (Ernst, 2000;Sudbery et al, 2004). These conditions more-or-less mimic certain host conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another important pathway contains a MAPkinase cascade that seems to have a more important role in regulating pseudohyphal than true hyphal growth (Liu et al, 1994). The two pathways control the transcription factors Efg1p and Cph1p, respectively, which activate the expression of hypha-specific genes for a suite of infection-related functions (Lane et al, 2001).A diverse range of environmental stimuli can induce C. albicans hyphal or pseudohyphal growth, such as serum, neutral pH, appropriate temperature, certain amino acids and sugars, and some synthetic growth media (Ernst, 2000;Sudbery et al, 2004). These conditions more-or-less mimic certain host conditions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Critical Role of DNA Checkpoints in Mediating Genotoxic-Stress–induced Filamentous Growth inCandida albicans

Shi

Wang

Zheng

et al. 2007

MBoC

119

198

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The polymorphic fungus Candida albicans switches from yeast to filamentous growth in response to a range of genotoxic insults, including inhibition of DNA synthesis by hydroxyurea (HU) or aphidicolin (AC), depletion of the ribonucleotidereductase subunit Rnr2p, and DNA damage induced by methylmethane sulfonate (MMS) or UV light (UV). Deleting RAD53, which encodes a downstream effector kinase for both the DNA-replication and DNA-damage checkpoint pathways, completely abolished the filamentous growth caused by all the genotoxins tested. Deleting RAD9, which encodes a signal transducer of the DNA-damage checkpoint, specifically blocked the filamentous growth induced by MMS or UV but not that induced by HU or AC. Deleting MRC1, the counterpart of RAD9 in the DNA-replication checkpoint, impaired DNA synthesis and caused cell elongation even in the absence of external genotoxic insults. Together, the results indicate that the DNA-replication/damage checkpoints are critically required for the induction of filamentous growth by genotoxic stress. In addition, either of two mutations in the FHA1 domain of Rad53p, G65A, and N104A, nearly completely blocked the filamentous-growth response but had no significant deleterious effect on cell-cycle arrest. These results suggest that the FHA domain, known for its ability to bind phosphopeptides, has an important role in mediating genotoxic-stress-induced filamentous growth and that such growth is a specific, Rad53p-regulated cellular response in C. albicans. INTRODUCTIONThe polymorphic fungus Candida albicans has proven to be a very useful model for the study of cell morphogenesis (Odds, 1994;Sudbery et al., 2004;Wightman et al., 2004;Zheng et al., 2004). This organism can switch between several morphological forms including yeast, pseudohyphae, and hyphae (Berman and Sudbery, 2002;Sudbery et al., 2004). The yeast-hypha transition has attracted much attention because of its established importance for infection and virulence (Csank et al., 1997;Lo et al., 1997;Gale et al., 1998;Gow et al., 2002;Zheng et al., 2004). Several signal-transduction pathways are known to play roles in growth-form selection (Liu, 2001;Berman and Sudbery, 2002). The cAMPprotein kinase A (PKA) pathway has a key role, because blocking it abolishes true hyphal growth under most experimental conditions (Lo et al., 1997;Stoldt et al., 1997;Rocha et al., 2001). Another important pathway contains a MAPkinase cascade that seems to have a more important role in regulating pseudohyphal than true hyphal growth (Liu et al., 1994). The two pathways control the transcription factors Efg1p and Cph1p, respectively, which activate the expression of hypha-specific genes for a suite of infection-related functions (Lane et al., 2001).A diverse range of environmental stimuli can induce C. albicans hyphal or pseudohyphal growth, such as serum, neutral pH, appropriate temperature, certain amino acids and sugars, and some synthetic growth media (Ernst, 2000;Sudbery et al., 2004). These conditions more-or-less mimic certain host c...

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Transcription factors in Candida albicans – environmental control of morphogenesis

Cited by 273 publications

References 89 publications

Genes involved in β‐oxidation, energy metabolism and glyoxylate cycle are induced by Candida albicans during macrophage infection

Genes involved in β‐oxidation, energy metabolism and glyoxylate cycle are induced by Candida albicans during macrophage infection

Siderophore uptake by Candida albicans: effect of serum treatment and comparison with Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Critical Role of DNA Checkpoints in Mediating Genotoxic-Stress–induced Filamentous Growth inCandida albicans

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