Project description:Candida albicans were treated with a sublethal concentration of the antifungal Jagaricin for either a short time (30 min) or until an OD of 0.5 (indicating log growth) was reached. Controls were grown without any antifungal to determine cellular reactions to the compound.
Project description:To determine the potential mode of action of the new antifungal compound candidate keanumycin A, the C. albicans wild type SC5314 was exposed to a sublethal dose of the substance. Untreated samples serve as control.
Project description:We investigated the antifungal mechanism of action (MOA) of compound NSC319726 against C. albicans SC5314. We used transcriptome analysis of wild type C. albicans treated or not with compound. Exponentially growing cells were treated for 60 min with 4 μg/ml of NSC319726.
Project description:6-Nonadecynoic acid (6-NDA), a plant-derived acetylenic acid, exhibits strong inhibitory activity against the human fungal pathogens Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. In the present study, transcriptional profiling coupled with mutant and biochemical analyses were conducted using the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate the mechanism of action of this compound. 6-NDA elicited a transcriptome response indicative of fatty acid stress, altering the expression of genes known to be affected when yeast cells are grown in the presence of oleate. Mutants of S. cerevisiae lacking transcription factors that regulate fatty acid beta-oxidation showed increased sensitivity to 6-NDA. Fatty acid profile analysis indicated that 6-NDA inhibited the formation of fatty acids longer than 14 carbons in length. In addition, the growth inhibitory effect of 6-NDA was rescued in the presence of exogenously supplied oleate. To investigate the response of a pathogenic fungal species to 6-NDA, transcriptional profiling and biochemical analyses were also conducted in C. albicans. The transcriptional response and fatty acid profile of C. albicans were comparable to those obtained in S. cerevisiae, and the rescue of growth inhibition with exogenous oleate was also observed in C. albicans. In addition, 6-NDA enhanced the potency of the antifungal drug fluconazole in a fluconazole-resistant clinical isolate of C. albicans. Collectively, our results indicate that the antifungal activity of 6-NDA is mediated by a disruption in fatty acid homeostasis, and that this compound has potential utility in combination therapy in the treatment of drug-resistant fungal infections.
Project description:Aneuploidy and the evolution of aneuploid karyotypes of Candida albicans strains was identified using aCGH. Whole chromosome and segmental aneuploidies, (specifically on the left arm of chromosome 5 - shown to be due to isochromosome formation) are associated with the appearance of resistance to the antifungal drug fluconazole. Keywords: Comparative Genomic Hybridization
Project description:Human serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein and shows a massive increase of concentration in plasma during inflammation. In the current study, we report that recombinant human and mouse SAA1 (rhSAA1 and rmSAA1) have a potent antifungal activity against the major fungal pathogen Candida albicans. rhSAA1 binds to the cell surface of C. albicans and promotes cell aggregation. At high concentrations, rhSAA1 disrupts the membrane integrity and induces rapid cell death of C. albicans. Further investigation demonstrates that rhSAA1 targets on the cell wall adhesin Als3 of C. albicans. Inactivation of ALS3 in C. albicans leads to remarkably decreased cell aggregation and death upon rhSAA1 treatment, implying that Als3 plays a critical role in SAA1 sensing. Moreover, deletion of the ALS3 transcriptional regulators such as AHR1, BCR1, and EFG1 in C. albicans results in a similar effect on cell responses to that of the als3/als3 mutant upon rhSAA1 treatment. Global gene expression profiling analysis indicates that rhSAA1 has a remarkable impact on the expression of cell wall- and metabolism-related genes in C. albicans. Our finding of the antifungal activity of rhSAA1 against C. albicans expands the function of this protein and would provide new insights into the understanding of the host-Candida interaction during infections.
Project description:The fungal pathogen Candida albicans and other pathogens of the CTG clade reassigned the leucine CUG codon to serine and tolerate highly variable levels of both serine and leucine at CUG positions in response to environmental cues. Previous studies found that increased leucine misincorporation levels enhance resistance to drugs but the underlying mechanisms are not known. To clarify the biological role of this tuneable codon ambiguity, we evolved C. albicans strains engineered to mistranslate CUG at elevated levels, in the presence and absence of the antifungal drug fluconazole