Comparative Phenotypic Analysis of the Major Fungal Pathogens Candida parapsilosis and Candida albicans

作者：Linda Holland, Markus Schröder, Siobhán A. Turner, Heather T. Taff, David R. Andes, Zsuzsanna Grózer, Attila Gácser, Lauren Ames, Ken Haynes, Desmond G. Higgins, Geraldine Butler · 发表于：PLoS Pathogens · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1371/journal.ppat.1004365 · 被引用次数：138 · 研究领域：Antifungal resistance and susceptibility、Fungal Infections and Studies、Oral microbiology and periodontitis research

Candida parapsilosis and Candida albicans are human fungal pathogens that belong to the CTG clade in the Saccharomycotina. In contrast to C. albicans, relatively little is known about the virulence properties of C. parapsilosis, a pathogen particularly associated with infections of premature neonates. We describe here the construction of C. parapsilosis strains carrying double allele deletions of 100 transcription factors, protein kinases and species-specific genes. Two independent deletions were constructed for each target gene. Growth in >40 conditions was tested, including carbon source, temperature, and the presence of antifungal drugs. The phenotypes were compared to C. albicans strains with deletions of orthologous transcription factors. We found that many phenotypes are shared between the two species, such as the role of Upc2 as a regulator of azole resistance, and of CAP1 in the oxidative stress response. Others are unique to one species. For example, Cph2 plays a role in the hypoxic response in C. parapsilosis but not in C. albicans. We found extensive divergence between the biofilm regulators of the two species. We identified seven transcription factors and one protein kinase that are required for biofilm development in C. parapsilosis. Only three (Efg1, Bcr1 and Ace2) have similar effects on C. albicans biofilms, whereas Cph2, Czf1, Gzf3 and Ume6 have major roles in C. parapsilosis only. Two transcription factors (Brg1 and Tec1) with well-characterized roles in bio...