Project description:Transcriptional profiling of C. tropicalis a/alpha cells (CAY1511) in white state, opaque state, overexpressing Wor1, or wor1 mutants hybridized against a universal mixed reference sample from all 4 states.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of C. tropicalis a/alpha cells (CAY1511) in white state, opaque state, overexpressing Wor1, or wor1 mutants hybridized against a universal mixed reference sample from all 4 states. 4 condition experiment: white, opaque, tdh3-wor1, Δ/Δwor1; 4 biological replicates of each
Project description:Phenotypic plasticity, the ability to switch between different morphological types, plays critical roles in environmental adaptation, leading to infections, and allowing for sexual reproduction in pathogenic Candida species. Candida tropicalis, which is both an emerging human fungal pathogen and an environmental fungus, can switch between two heritable cell types termed white and opaque. In this study, we report the discovery of a novel phenotype in C. tropicalis, named the gray phenotype. Similar to Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis, white, gray, and opaque cell types of C. tropicalis also form a tristable switching system, where gray cells are relatively small and elongated. In C. tropicalis, gray cells exhibit intermediate levels of mating competency and virulence in a mouse systemic infection model compared to the white and opaque cell types, express a set of cell type-enriched genes, and exhibit both common and species-specific biological features. The key regulators of white-opaque transitions, Wor1 and Efg1, are not required for the gray phenotype. A comparative study of the gray phenotypes in C. tropicalis, C. albicans, and C. dubliniensis provides clues to explain the species differences in terms of virulence, ecological niches, and prevalence among these three species.
Project description:Phenotypic switching is a strategy by which microbial organisms adapt to environmental changes. The human fungal pathogens, Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis, are closely related species and capable of undergoing morphological transitions. C. albicans primarily exists in human or warm-blooded animals as a commensal, whereas C. tropicalis not only exists as a commensal but also is widely distributed in the environment. In this study, To elucidate the regulatory mechanism of environmental pH on white-opaque switching in C. tropicalis, we performed RNA-Seq analysis under three pH conditions (pH 5.0, pH 7.0, and pH 8.0).
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of C. tropicalis a cells (CAY1503) in opaque state and overexpressing Wor1 in biofilms hybridized against a universal mixed reference sample of a cells in white and opaque states grown in Spider liquid.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of C. tropicalis a cells (CAY1503) in opaque state and overexpressing Wor1 in biofilms hybridized against a universal mixed reference sample of a cells in white and opaque states grown in Spider liquid. 2 condition experiment: opaque, tdh3-wor1; 2 biological replicates of each
Project description:Sexual reproduction can promote genetic diversity in eukaryotes, and yet many pathogenic fungi have been labeled as obligate asexual species. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that cryptic sexual programs may exist in some species, and that efficient mating requires the necessary developmental switch to be triggered. In this study we investigate Candida tropicalis, an important human fungal pathogen that has been reported to be asexual. Significantly, we demonstrate that C. tropicalis uses a phenotypic switch to regulate a cryptic program of sexual mating. Thus, diploid a and α cells must undergo a developmental transition to the mating-competent form, and only then does efficient cell-cell conjugation take place resulting in the formation of stable a/α tetraploids. We show that both the phenotypic switch and sexual mating depend on the conserved transcriptional regulator Wor1, which is regulated by temperature in other fungal species. In contrast, C. tropicalis mating occurs efficiently at both 25 °C and 37 °C, suggesting that it could occur in the mammalian host and have direct consequences for the outcome of an infection. Transcriptional profiling further reveals that ≈400 genes are differentially expressed between the two phenotypic states, including the regulatory factor Wor1. Taken together, our results demonstrate that C. tropicalis has a unique sexual program, and that entry to this program is controlled via a Wor1-mediated, metastable switch. These observations have direct implications for the regulation and evolution of cryptic sexual programs in related fungal pathogens. 4 biological replicates of both the white (CAY1504) and opaque (CAY2275) states of C. tropicalis a cells are included on this array. All are hybridized against a universal reference sample, which consists of the combined RNA from all 8 replicates used on this array.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of a-type wor1 deleted cells and mixed a-type and alpha-type opaque cells under in vitro biofilm-forming conditions. Specifically, they were grown for two days at room temperature in a 12-well poly-styrene plate containing 1 ml of Lee's + Glucose liquid media. Samples were hybridized against a universal mixed reference sample of a-type cells in white and opaque states grown in Spider liquid media. 2 condition experiment: white wor1-deletion mutant a-type cells, opaque mixed a-type and alpha-type cells; two biological replicates each.