Comparative Phenotypic Analysis of the Major Fungal Pathogens Candida parapsilosis and Candida albicans

PLoS Pathogens

Zsuzsanna Grózer¹  Attila Gácser¹  Heather Taff²  David Andes²  Markus S. Schröder³  Siobhán A. Turner³  Linda M. Holland³  Geraldine Butler³  Ken Haynes⁴  Lauren Ames⁴  Desmond G. Higgins⁵ 

[1] Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary;Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America;School of Biomedical and Biomolecular Science, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland;School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom;School of Medicine and Medical Science, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland

关键词: Biofilms;    C;    ida albicans;    Transcription factors;    Regulator genes;    Gene regulation;    Gene expression;    C;    ida;    Polymerase chain reaction;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1004365

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Candida parapsilosis and Candida albicans are human fungal pathogens that belong to the CTG clade in the Saccharomycotina. In contrast to C. albicans, relatively little is known about the virulence properties of C. parapsilosis, a pathogen particularly associated with infections of premature neonates. We describe here the construction of C. parapsilosis strains carrying double allele deletions of 100 transcription factors, protein kinases and species-specific genes. Two independent deletions were constructed for each target gene. Growth in >40 conditions was tested, including carbon source, temperature, and the presence of antifungal drugs. The phenotypes were compared to C. albicans strains with deletions of orthologous transcription factors. We found that many phenotypes are shared between the two species, such as the role of Upc2 as a regulator of azole resistance, and of CAP1 in the oxidative stress response. Others are unique to one species. For example, Cph2 plays a role in the hypoxic response in C. parapsilosis but not in C. albicans. We found extensive divergence between the biofilm regulators of the two species. We identified seven transcription factors and one protein kinase that are required for biofilm development in C. parapsilosis. Only three (Efg1, Bcr1 and Ace2) have similar effects on C. albicans biofilms, whereas Cph2, Czf1, Gzf3 and Ume6 have major roles in C. parapsilosis only. Two transcription factors (Brg1 and Tec1) with well-characterized roles in biofilm formation in C. albicans do not have the same function in C. parapsilosis. We also compared the transcription profile of C. parapsilosis and C. albicans biofilms. Our analysis suggests the processes shared between the two species are predominantly metabolic, and that Cph2 and Bcr1 are major biofilm regulators in C. parapsilosis.

【 授权许可】

CC BY