Virulence of Cryptococcus spp. biofilms in vitro and in vivo using Galleria mellonella as an alternative model.

Frontiers in Microbiology

Márcia Cristina de Azevedo Prata¹  Maria José Soares Mendes-Giannini²  Tatiane eBenaducci²  Nátalia Manuela Strohmayer Lourencetti²  Fernanda Patrícia eGullo²  Janaina De Cássia Orlandi Sardi²  Jaqueline Derissi Braz²  Suélen Andreia eRossi²  Liliana eScorzoni²  Ana Marisa eFusco-Almeida² 

[1] EMBRAPA - Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária;UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista;

关键词: Biofilms;    Virulence;    real time PCR;    Cryptococcus spp.;    Galleria mellonella;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2016.00290

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are fungal pathogens that are most commonly found in infections of the central nervous system, which cause life-threatening meningoencephalitis and can grow as a biofilm. Biofilms are structures conferring protection and resistance of microorganism to the antifungal drugs. This study compared the virulence of planktonic and biofilm cells of C. neoformans and C. gattii in Galleria mellonella model, as well as, the quantification of gene transcripts LAC1, URE1 and CAP59 by real time PCR. All three of the genes showed significantly increased expressions in the biofilm conditions for two species of Cryptococcus, when compared to planktonic cells. C. neoformans and C. gattii cells in the biofilm forms were more virulent than the planktonic cells in G. mellonella. This suggests that the biofilm conditions may contribute to the virulence profile. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the agents of cryptococcosis in the host-yeast aspects of the interaction.

【 授权许可】

Unknown