Project description:Candida albicans repetitive elements display epigenetic diversity and plasticity. This experiment inspects RNA levels on both wild- type (BWP17 strain) and sir double deletion mutant strain in order to detect changes in gene expression associated with SIR2-dependent heterochromatin patterns.
Project description:Goal: We employed RNA-seq to identify targets of regulation of the Candida albicans transcription regulator CUP9. The cup9 deletion mutant strain displays increased fitness in a mouse model of oropharyngeal candidiasis.
Project description:We perform microarray analysis of HUVECs upon stimulation with virulent wildtype C. albicans strain SC5314 or its efg1/efg1 cph1/cph1 hyphal-deficient derivative strain CAN34 to compare the gene expression profiles elicited from HUVECs in response to these strains. In addition, these responses are compared to that of TNF-alpha induced responses to determine which responses are Candida-specific. Keywords: comparison of host response to different Candida albicans morphologies
Project description:To investigate the diversity of gene contents of Candida albicans strain by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH; aCGH).
Project description:The fungal pathogen Candida albicans produces dark-pigmented melanin when grown in a basal medium containing 1 mM l-DOPA as melanin substrate. In the widely used C. albicans strain SC5314, melanin appeared after 3-4 days of incubation in l-DOPA medium. The experiment was designed to reveal cadidate genes associated with melanin biosynthesis by expression profiling at different times of growth with and without L-DOPA added to the medium. Expression profiling of C. albicans revealed very few genes significantly up- or down-regulated by growth in l-DOPA.
Project description:To investigate the diversity of gene contents of Candida albicans strain by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH; aCGH).
Project description:To investigate the diversity of gene contents of Candida albicans strain by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH; aCGH).
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in Candida albicans WO-1 grown aerobically in xylose, compared to the same strain grown aerobically in glucose.
Project description:Analyzing culture supernatants of yeast and hyphal cells of Candida albicans by mass spectrometry, we found two close homologues of pathogenesis-related (PR-) 1 proteins, Rbe1p and Rbt4p, in the secretome of this human pathogen. By sequence homology, we assigned three yet not characterized open reading frames, ORF19.6200, ORF19.2787 and ORF19.2336, in addition to Rbe1p and Rbt4p to a novel family of proteins. Correspondent with our secretome analysis RBE1 was expressed in blastospores and opaque cells, whereas transcription was down-regulated in hyphae. On the contrary, RBT4 was up-regulated in hyphae and down-regulated in opaque cells. Remarkably, transcription of RBT4 and RBE1 was each up-regulated in blastospores of ∆rbe1 or hyphae of ∆rbt4 deletion strains, respectively, indicating a compensatory function of both proteins. In a ∆rbe1/∆rbt4 double deletion strain, genome-wide transcriptional analysis showed differential transcription of a limited set of genes that are also implicated in virulence and oxidative stress response. In this context, deletion of RBE1 or RBT4 in a clinical C. albicans isolate resulted in a moderate but significant attenuation in virulence in a mouse model for disseminated candidiasis. However, a synergistic effect was observed in the ∆rbe1/∆rbt4 double deletion strain, where virulence was strongly affected. Furthermore, the double deletion strain showed increased sensitivity to attack by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (neutrophils). Therfore, our data suggest that the crucial contribution of both C. albicans pathogenesis-related proteins for in vivo virulence results at least partially from reduced survival in phagocytes.