Dataset Information

Beauvericin Potentiates Azole Activity via Inhibition of Multidrug Efflux, Blocks Candida albicans Morphogenesis, and Is Effluxed via Yor1 and Circuitry Controlled by Zcf29.

ABSTRACT: Invasive fungal infections are a leading cause of human mortality. Effective treatment is hindered by the rapid emergence of resistance to the limited number of antifungal drugs, demanding new strategies to treat life-threatening fungal infections. Here, we explore a powerful strategy to enhance antifungal efficacy against leading human fungal pathogens by using the natural product beauvericin. We found that beauvericin potentiates the activity of azole antifungals against azole-resistant Candida isolates via inhibition of multidrug efflux and that beauvericin itself is effluxed via Yor1. As observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we determined that beauvericin inhibits TOR signaling in Candida albicans To further characterize beauvericin activity in C. albicans, we leveraged genome sequencing of beauvericin-resistant mutants. Resistance was conferred by mutations in transcription factor genes TAC1, a key regulator of multidrug efflux, and ZCF29, which was uncharacterized. Transcriptional profiling and chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to microarray analyses revealed that Zcf29 binds to and regulates the expression of multidrug transporter genes. Beyond drug resistance, we also discovered that beauvericin blocks the C. albicans morphogenetic transition from yeast to filamentous growth in response to diverse cues. We found that beauvericin represses the expression of many filament-specific genes, including the transcription factor BRG1 Thus, we illuminate novel circuitry regulating multidrug efflux and establish that simultaneously targeting drug resistance and morphogenesis provides a promising strategy to combat life-threatening fungal infections.

SUBMITTER: Shekhar-Guturja T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5119031 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Beauvericin Potentiates Azole Activity via Inhibition of Multidrug Efflux, Blocks Candida albicans Morphogenesis, and Is Effluxed via Yor1 and Circuitry Controlled by Zcf29.

Shekhar-Guturja Tanvi T Tebung Walters Aji WA Mount Harley H Liu Ningning N Köhler Julia R JR Whiteway Malcolm M Cowen Leah E LE

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy 20161121 12

Invasive fungal infections are a leading cause of human mortality. Effective treatment is hindered by the rapid emergence of resistance to the limited number of antifungal drugs, demanding new strategies to treat life-threatening fungal infections. Here, we explore a powerful strategy to enhance antifungal efficacy against leading human fungal pathogens by using the natural product beauvericin. We found that beauvericin potentiates the activity of azole antifungals against azole-resistant Candid ...[more]

PMID: 27736764

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Project description:How cells exposed to one stress are later able to better survive other types of stress is not well understood. In eukaryotic organisms, physiological and pathological stresses can disturb endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function, resulting in "ER stress." Here, we found that exposure to tunicamycin, an inducer of ER stress, resulted in the acquisition of a specific aneuploidy, chromosome 2 trisomy (Chr2x3), in Candida albicans. Importantly, the resulting aneuploidy also conferred cross-tolerance to caspofungin, a first-line echinocandin antifungal, as well as to hydroxyurea, a common chemotherapeutic agent. Exposure to a range of tunicamycin concentrations induced similar ER stress responses. Extra copies of one Chr2 gene, MKK2, affected both tunicamycin and caspofungin tolerance, while at least 3 genes on chromosome 2 (ALG7, RTA2, and RTA3) affected only tunicamycin and not caspofungin responses. Other Chr2 genes (RNR1 and RNR21) affected hydroxyurea tolerance but neither tunicamycin nor caspofungin tolerance. Deletion of components of the protein kinase C (PKC) or calcineurin pathways affected tolerance to both tunicamycin and caspofungin, supporting the idea that the ER stress response and echinocandin tolerance are regulated by overlapping stress response pathways. Thus, antifungal drug tolerance can arise rapidly via ER stress-induced aneuploidy. IMPORTANCE Candida albicans is a prevalent human fungal commensal and also a pathogen that causes life-threatening systemic infections. Treatment failures are frequent because few therapeutic antifungal drug classes are available and because drug resistance and tolerance limit drug efficacy. We found that C. albicans rapidly overcomes the cellular stress induced by the drug tunicamycin by duplicating chromosome 2. Also, chromosome 2 duplication confers tolerance not only to tunicamycin but also to the following two unrelated drugs: caspofungin, an antifungal drug, and hydroxyurea, a chemotherapeutic. Cross tolerance to the three drugs involves different sets of genes, although some genetic pathways affect the tolerance to two of these three drugs. This work highlights a serious concern, namely, that changes in whole chromosome copy number can occur in response to one type of stress, and yet, they may facilitate the emergence of tolerance to multiple drugs, including the few antifungal drug classes available to treat Candida infections.

Dataset Information

Beauvericin Potentiates Azole Activity via Inhibition of Multidrug Efflux, Blocks Candida albicans Morphogenesis, and Is Effluxed via Yor1 and Circuitry Controlled by Zcf29.

Publications

Beauvericin Potentiates Azole Activity via Inhibition of Multidrug Efflux, Blocks Candida albicans Morphogenesis, and Is Effluxed via Yor1 and Circuitry Controlled by Zcf29.

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