A proteomic and functional analysis of the metabolic adaptive response to iron during the filamentation process of the pathogen Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: Candia albicans is an opportunist pathogen responsible for a large spectrum of infections, from superficial mycosis to systemic diseases called candidiasis. Its ability to grow in various morphological forms, such as yeast and filamentous hyphae, contributes to its survival in the diverse microenvironments it encounters in the host, differing in key micronutrients and iron contents. In C. albicans, iron uptake has been associated with virulence and the pathogen has developed elaborated strategies to acquire iron from the host. In this study, we performed a global proteomic analysis of the changes of protein abundances in response to iron, and correlated these data with morphological and functional studies of the main metabolic pathways of the pathogen, both in the yeast and filamentous forms. Our results show that C. albicans yeast cells have an extraordinary capability to adapt to both iron excess and iron deficiency. Moreover, changes of iron content in the growth medium are associated with a metabolic remodeling affecting intracellular glutathione levels and reduced thiol groups, but also enzymes of the TCA cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway or the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Our data indicate that iron-deficiency stimulates the bioenergetics pathways, whereas iron excess corresponds to more biosynthetic needs, especially in the filamentous forms. Altogether, our results emphasize the influence of the environment of C. albicans cells on the filamentation process, and show evidence for the differences between the yeast and filamentous forms, which seem to adapt more easily in response to a large set of iron conditions.

INSTRUMENT(S): Orbitrap Fusion ETD

ORGANISM(S): Candida Albicans (yeast)

SUBMITTER: Camille GARCIA  

LAB HEAD: Jean-Michel Camadro

PROVIDER: PXD010881 | Pride | 2020-05-26

REPOSITORIES: Pride