Dataset Information

Clade-specific flucytosine resistance is due to a single nucleotide change in the FUR1 gene of Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: Population studies have indicated that natural resistance to flucytosine (5FC) in Candida albicans is limited to one of the five major clades, clade I. In addition, while 73% of clade I isolates are less susceptible to 5FC (MIC >/= 0.5 microg/ml), only 2% of non-clade I isolates are less susceptible. In order to determine the genetic basis for this clade-specific resistance, we sequenced two genes involved in the metabolism of 5FC that had previously been linked to resistance (cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase), in 48 isolates representative of all clades. Our results demonstrate that a single nucleotide change from cytosine to thymine at position 301 in the uracil phosphoribosyltransferase gene (FUR1) of C. albicans is responsible for 5FC resistance. The mutant allele was found only in group I isolates. The 5FC MICs for strains without copies of the mutant allele were almost exclusively /=0.5 microg/ml, and those for strains with two copies of the mutant allele were >/=16 microg/ml. Thus, the two alleles were codominant. The presence of this allele is responsible for clade I-specific resistance to 5FC within the C. albicans population and thus by inference is likely to be the major underlying 5FC resistance mechanism in C. albicans. This represents the first description of the genetic mutation responsible for 5FC resistance.

SUBMITTER: Dodgson AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC415630 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Clade-specific flucytosine resistance is due to a single nucleotide change in the FUR1 gene of Candida albicans.

Dodgson Andrew R AR Dodgson Kirsty J KJ Pujol Claude C Pfaller Michael A MA Soll David R DR

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy 20040601 6

Population studies have indicated that natural resistance to flucytosine (5FC) in Candida albicans is limited to one of the five major clades, clade I. In addition, while 73% of clade I isolates are less susceptible to 5FC (MIC >/= 0.5 microg/ml), only 2% of non-clade I isolates are less susceptible. In order to determine the genetic basis for this clade-specific resistance, we sequenced two genes involved in the metabolism of 5FC that had previously been linked to resistance (cytosine deaminase ...[more]

PMID: 15155225

Similar Datasets

Project description:DNA fingerprinting of Candida dubliniensis isolates using the species-specific probe Cd25 previously showed that this species consists of two distinct groups, termed Cd25 group I and Cd25 group II. The present study investigated the population structure of 30 C. dubliniensis oral isolates from Saudi Arabia and Egypt using Cd25 fingerprinting and rRNA gene internal transcribed spacer region-based genotyping. Cd25 fingerprinting analysis of these isolates revealed two distinct populations, the first of which consisted of 10 closely related genotype 1 isolates (average similarity coefficient [S(AB)] value, 0.86). The second population of 20 isolates was much more heterogeneous (average S(AB) value, 0.35) and consisted of two distinct subpopulations, one of which consisted of genotype 3 isolates (n = 13) and the other of genotype 4 isolates (n = 7). A mixed dendrogram generated from the fingerprint data from the 30 Saudi Arabian and Egyptian isolates, 5 Israeli isolates, and 51 previously characterized international isolates (32 of Cd25 group I and 19 of Cd25 group II) revealed the presence of three distinct main clades. The first corresponded to the previously described Cd25 group I and contained all the Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, and Israeli genotype 1 isolates mixed with international isolates. The second clade corresponded to the previously described Cd25 group II and contained three Israeli isolates, one genotype 2 isolate, one genotype 3 isolate, and a genotype 4 variant isolate, which were mixed with international isolates. The third clade has not been described before and consisted solely of the 20 Saudi Arabian and Egyptian genotype 3 and 4 isolates identified in this study and a previously described genotype 4 Israeli isolate. All 20 Cd25 group III isolates exhibited high-level resistance to 5-flucytosine (MIC > or = 128 microg/ml), whereas all Cd25 group I and Cd25 group II isolates tested (10 Saudi Arabian and Egyptian, 16 Israeli, and 24 international) were susceptible to 5-flucytosine (MIC < or = 0.125 microg/ml). The results of this study show for the first time the presence of a novel 5-flucytosine-resistant clade of C. dubliniensis (Cd25 group III) that is predominant among isolates from Saudi Arabia and Egypt and absent from a previously characterized international collection of 98 isolates from 15 countries.

Dataset Information

Clade-specific flucytosine resistance is due to a single nucleotide change in the FUR1 gene of Candida albicans.

Publications

Clade-specific flucytosine resistance is due to a single nucleotide change in the FUR1 gene of Candida albicans.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets