Diverse Lineages of Candida albicans Live on Old Oaks

Genetics: A Periodical Record of Investigations Bearing on Heredity and Variation

Douda Bensasson^1¹  Jo Dicks^2²  Christopher J. Bond^2³  John M. Ludwig^3⁴ 

[1] Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602;Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602^1;Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602^3;National Collection of Yeast Cultures, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich NR4 7UA, UK^2

关键词: Population genomics;    loss of heterozygosity (LOH);    molecular evolution;    yeast ecology;    environmental reservoir;    clonality;    asexual;   

DOI  :  10.1534/genetics.118.301482

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Genetics Society of America

【 摘 要 】

The human pathogen Candida albicans is considered an obligate commensal of animals, yet it is occasionally isolated from trees, shrubs, and grass. We generated genome sequence data for three strains of C. albicans that we isolated from oak trees in an ancient wood pasture, and compared these to the genomes of over 200 clinical strains. C. albicans strains from oak are similar to clinical C. albicans in that they are predominantly diploid and can become homozygous at the mating locus through whole-chromosome loss of heterozygosity. Oak strains differed from clinical strains in showing slightly higher levels of heterozygosity genome-wide. Using phylogenomic analyses and in silico chromosome painting, we show that each oak strain is more closely related to strains from humans and other animals than to strains from other oaks. The high genetic diversity of C. albicans from old oaks shows that they can live in this environment for extended periods of time.

【 授权许可】

CC BY