Project description:Genome-wide transcriptional profiles of Pseduomonas aerguinosa and Candida albicans after growth for 24 hours in mixed species colony biofilms.
Project description:CaGAL102 is a sequence homolog of Rmlb. In Candida knock out of this gene causes abnormal hyphal morphogenesis and increased sensitivity to cell wall damaging agents. The knock out strain is also avirulent in mouse model of systemic infection. To get a larger insight into the function of the protein product of this gene we carried out global transcription analysis through micro array experiment. The gene is expressed under normal growth conditions and the knock out causes the cells to become hyphal under these conditions. Many of the cell wall proteins were upregulated recapitulating the cell morphology. Keywords: Candida albicans, Gene knockout, genome wide transcription profiling study
Project description:Candida albicans, the most common cause of human fungal infections, undergoes a reversible morphological transition from yeast to pseudohyphal and hyphal filaments, which is required for virulence. For many years, the relationship between global gene expression patterns associated with determination of specific C. albicans morphologies has remained obscure. Using a strain that can be genetically manipulated to sequentially transition from yeast to pseudohyphae to hyphae in the absence of complex environmental cues and upstream signaling pathways, we demonstrate by whole-genome transcriptional profiling that genes associated with pseudohyphae represent a subset of those associated hyphae and are generally expressed at lower levels; interestingly, no genes appeared to be expressed exclusively in pseudohyphae. Our results also strongly suggest that in addition to dosage, extended duration of filament-specific gene expression is sufficient to drive the C. albicans yeast-pseudohyphal-hyphal transition. Finally, we describe the first transcriptional profile of the C. albicans reverse hyphal-pseudohyphal-yeast transition and demonstrate that this transition not only involves down-regulation of known hyphal-specific genes but also differential expression of additional genes which have not previously been associated with the forward transition, including many involved in protein synthesis. These findings provide new insight into genome-wide mechanisms important for determining fungal morphology and suggest that in addition to similarities, there are also fundamental differences in global gene expression as pathogenic filamentous fungi undergo forward and reverse morphological transitions.
Project description:Candidiasis affects a wide variety of immunocompromised individuals, including HIV/AIDS patients and cancer patients on chemotherapy. Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen, accounts for about 50% of all cases, while the remainder are caused by the less pathogenic non-albicans Candida species (NACS). These species are believed to be less pathogenic, in part, because they do not filament as readily or robustly as C. albicans, although definitive evidence is lacking. To address this question, we used strains for two NACS, Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis, that are genetically engineered to constitutively express the key transcriptional regulator UME6 and drive strong filamentation both in vitro and during infection in vivo. Unexpectedly, both strains showed a dramatic reduction in organ fungal burden and clearance of infection in response to UME6 expression. Consistent with these findings, we observed that a C. tropicalis hyperfilamentous mutant was significantly reduced and a filamentation-defective mutant was slightly increased for organ fungal burden. Comprehensive immune profiling did not reveal any significant changes in the host immune response to UME6 expression in the NACS. Interestingly, however, whole-genome transcriptional profiling indicated that while genes important for filamentation were induced by UME6 expression in C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis, other genes involved in a variety of processes important for pathogenesis were strongly down-regulated. Our findings are significant because they suggest fundamental evolutionary differences in the relationship between morphology and pathogenicity among Candida species and that NACS do not necessarily possess the same virulence properties as C. albicans.
Project description:This data was generated to compare genome-wide expression differences between a major fungal pathogen of humans, Candida albicans and its less pathogenic relative, Candida dubliniensis, using interspecies hybrids to systematically identify cis-regulatory adaptations.
Project description:Map ORC binding sites to identify replication origins in C. albicans by using polyclonal ORC antibodies (gift from Stephen Bell Lab). Due to the unsynchronized nature of Candida cells, log-phase cultures were taken to perfoem ChIP-chip experiments to find the genome-wide ORC binding sites.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Candida albicans SC5314 comparing C. albicans grown in RPMI1640 or in RPMI1640 with 100ug/ml AAT. Goal was to determine the effects of AAT on global C. albicans gene expression.