Role of a Candida albicans Whi5/Nrm1 homolog in cell cycle and hyphal-specific gene expression
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogenic fungus that is able to assume several morphologies, including yeast and hyphal growth forms. The hyphal morphology can be induced by various environmental stimuli and is accompanied by expression of a large set of hyphal-specific genes (HSGs). Cell cycle and morphogenetic programs are interconnected: notably, inhibition of cell cycle progression often causes a switch to filamentous growth. Here we identify and characterize CaNrm1, a C. albicans homolog of the S. cerevisiae Whi5 and Nrm1 transcription inhibitors that, analogous to mammalian Rb, regulate the cell cycle transcription program in the G1 phase and at the G1/S transition. CaNRM1 is able to complement the phenotypes of both whi5 and nrm1 mutants in S. cerevisiae. Deletion of CaNRM1 causes a reduction in cell size and results in increased resistance to hydroxyurea (HU), an inhibitor of DNA replication; analysis of the expression of ribonucleotide reductase, the target of HU, suggests that its transcriptional induction in response to HU is mainly dependent upon CaNrm1. Genetic epistasis analysis suggests that CaNrm1 interacts with the SBF and MBF transcription factors in S. cerevisiae and with the MBF functional homolog in C. albicans. At the transcription level, deletion of CaNRM1 causes an induction of many G1 and G1/S-specific genes. Induction of the HSGs is dampened under certain conditions in the Canrm1-/- mutant, suggesting that the cell cycle transcription program influences the morphogenetic transcription program of C. albicans. One aspect of the characterization of the C. albicans Whi5/Nrm1 gene was to examine how this molecule influences global gene expression. To that end, we isolated total RNA from log-phase nrm1-/nrm1- (as well as parent/background strain) cells in two independent replicate experiments. These samples were processed, labeled, and subsequently used for hybridization of custom C. albicans Affymetrix arrays.
ORGANISM(S): Candida albicans
SUBMITTER: Kathy Barker
PROVIDER: E-GEOD-20612 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
ACCESS DATA