Some biological features of Candida albicans mutants for genes coding fungal proteins containing the CFEM domain

Pére, A., Ramage, G. , Blanes, R., Murgui, A., Casanova, M. and Martınez, J. P. (2011) Some biological features of Candida albicans mutants for genes coding fungal proteins containing the CFEM domain. FEMS Yeast Research, 11(3), pp. 273-284. (doi: 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2010.00714.x)

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Abstract

Several biological features of Candida albicans genes (PGA10, RBT5 and CSA1) coding for putative polypeptide species belonging to a subset of fungal proteins containing an eight-cysteine domain referred as common in several fungal extracellular membrane (CFEM) are described. The deletion of these genes resulted in a cascade of pleiotropic effects. Thus, mutant strains exhibited higher cell surface hydrophobicity levels and an increased ability to bind to inert or biological substrates. Confocal scanning laser microscopy using concanavalin A-Alexafluor 488 (which binds to mannose and glucose residues) and FUN-1 (a cytoplasmic fluorescent probe for cell viability) dyes showed that mutant strains formed thinner and more fragile biofilms. These apparently contained lower quantities of extracellular matrix material and less metabolically active cells than their parental strain counterpart, although the relative percentage of mycelial forms was similar in all cases. The cell surface of C. albicans strains harbouring deletions for genes coding CFEM-domain proteins appeared to be severely altered according to atomic force microscopy observations. Assessment of the relative gene expression within individual C. albicans cells revealed that CFEM-coding genes were upregulated in mycelium, although these genes were shown not to affect virulence in animal models. Overall, this study has demonstrated that CFEM domain protein-encoding genes are pleiotropic, influencing cell surface characteristics and biofilm formation

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Ramage, Professor Gordon
Authors: Pére, A., Ramage, G., Blanes, R., Murgui, A., Casanova, M., and Martınez, J. P.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Dental School
Journal Name:FEMS Yeast Research
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:1567-1356
ISSN (Online):1567-1364
Published Online:17 January 2011

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