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15 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 15
An Intragenic Recombination Event Generates a Snf4-Independent Form of the Essential Protein Kinase Snf1 in Candida albicans.

Abstract (Expand)

The heterotrimeric protein kinase SNF1 plays a key role in the metabolic adaptation of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans It consists of the essential catalytic alpha-subunit Snf1, the gamma-subunit … Snf4, and one of the two beta-subunits Kis1 and Kis2. Snf4 is required to release the N-terminal catalytic domain of Snf1 from autoinhibition by the C-terminal regulatory domain, and snf4Delta mutants cannot grow on carbon sources other than glucose. In a screen for suppressor mutations that restore growth of a snf4Delta mutant on alternative carbon sources, we isolated a mutant in which six amino acids between the N-terminal kinase domain and the C-terminal regulatory domain of Snf1 were deleted. The deletion was caused by an intragenic recombination event between two 8-bp direct repeats flanking six intervening codons. In contrast to truncated forms of Snf1 that contain only the kinase domain, the Snf4-independent Snf1(Delta311 - 316) was fully functional and could replace wild-type Snf1 for normal growth, because it retained the ability to interact with the Kis1 and Kis2 beta-subunits via its C-terminal domain. Indeed, the Snf4-independent Snf1(Delta311 - 316) still required the beta-subunits of the SNF1 complex to perform its functions and did not rescue the growth defects of kis1Delta mutants. Our results demonstrate that a preprogrammed in-frame deletion event within the SNF1 coding region can generate a mutated form of this essential kinase which abolishes autoinhibition and thereby overcomes growth deficiencies caused by a defect in the gamma-subunit Snf4.IMPORTANCE Genomic alterations, including different types of recombination events, facilitate the generation of genetically altered variants and enable the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans to adapt to stressful conditions encountered in its human host. Here, we show that a specific recombination event between two 8-bp direct repeats within the coding sequence of the SNF1 gene results in the deletion of six amino acids between the N-terminal kinase domain and the C-terminal regulatory domain and relieves this essential kinase from autoinhibition. This preprogrammed deletion allowed C. albicans to overcome growth defects caused by the absence of the regulatory subunit Snf4 and represents a built-in mechanism for the generation of a Snf4-independent Snf1 kinase.

Authors: A. Mottola, J. Morschhauser

Date Published: 19th Jun 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Evolution of Fluconazole-Resistant Candida albicans Strains by Drug-Induced Mating Competence and Parasexual Recombination.

Abstract (Expand)

The clonal population structure of Candida albicans suggests that (para)sexual recombination does not play an important role in the lifestyle of this opportunistic fungal pathogen, an assumption that … is strengthened by the fact that most C. albicans strains are heterozygous at the mating type locus (MTL) and therefore mating-incompetent. On the other hand, mating might occur within clonal populations and allow the combination of advantageous traits that were acquired by individual cells to adapt to adverse conditions. We have investigated if parasexual recombination may be involved in the evolution of highly drug-resistant strains exhibiting multiple resistance mechanisms against fluconazole, an antifungal drug that is commonly used to treat infections by C. albicans Growth of strains that were heterozygous for MTL and different fluconazole resistance mutations in the presence of the drug resulted in the emergence of derivatives that had become homozygous for the mutated allele and the mating type locus and exhibited increased drug resistance. When MTL a/a and MTLalpha/alpha cells of these strains were mixed in all possible combinations, we could isolate mating products containing the genetic material from both parents. The initial mating products did not exhibit higher drug resistance than their parental strains, but further propagation under selective pressure resulted in the loss of the wild-type alleles and increased fluconazole resistance. Therefore, fluconazole treatment not only selects for resistance mutations but also promotes genomic alterations that confer mating competence, which allows cells in an originally clonal population to exchange individually acquired resistance mechanisms and generate highly drug-resistant progeny.IMPORTANCE Sexual reproduction is an important mechanism in the evolution of species, since it allows the combination of advantageous traits of individual members in a population. The pathogenic yeast Candida albicans is a diploid organism that normally propagates in a clonal fashion, because heterozygosity at the mating type locus (MTL) inhibits mating between cells. Here we show that C. albicans cells that have acquired drug resistance mutations during treatment with the commonly used antifungal agent fluconazole rapidly develop further increased resistance by genome rearrangements that result in simultaneous loss of heterozygosity for the mutated allele and the mating type locus. This enables the drug-resistant cells of a population to switch to the mating-competent opaque morphology and mate with each other to combine different individually acquired resistance mechanisms. The tetraploid mating products reassort their merged genomes and, under selective pressure by the drug, generate highly resistant progeny that have retained the advantageous mutated alleles. Parasexual propagation, promoted by stress-induced genome rearrangements that result in the acquisition of mating competence in cells with adaptive mutations, may therefore be an important mechanism in the evolution of C. albicans populations.

Authors: C. Popp, B. Ramirez-Zavala, S. Schwanfelder, I. Kruger, J. Morschhauser

Date Published: 5th Feb 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

A Hyperactive Form of the Zinc Cluster Transcription Factor Stb5 Causes YOR1 Overexpression and Beauvericin Resistance in Candida albicans.

Abstract (Expand)

Gain-of-function mutations in the zinc cluster transcription factors Mrr1, Tac1, and Upc2, which result in constitutive overexpression of their target genes, are a frequent cause of fluconazole resistance … in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans In this study, we show that an activated form of another zinc cluster transcription factor, Stb5, confers resistance to the natural compound beauvericin via the overexpression of YOR1, encoding an efflux pump of the ATP-binding cassette transporter superfamily. Beauvericin was recently shown to potentiate the activity of azole drugs against C. albicans Although Yor1 did not contribute to fluconazole resistance when C. albicans cells were treated with the drug alone, Stb5-mediated YOR1 overexpression diminished the synergistic effect of the fluconazole-beauvericin combination, thereby enhancing fluconazole resistance in beauvericin-treated C. albicans cells. Stb5-mediated YOR1 overexpression also suppressed the inhibition of hyphal growth, an important virulence trait of C. albicans, by beauvericin. Therefore, activating mutations in Stb5, which result in constitutive YOR1 overexpression, may enable C. albicans to acquire resistance to beauvericin and thereby overcome both the sensitization to azole drugs and the inhibition of morphogenesis caused by this compound.

Authors: B. Ramirez-Zavala, H. Manz, F. Englert, P. D. Rogers, J. Morschhauser

Date Published: 27th Sep 2018

Publication Type: Not specified

An acquired mechanism of antifungal drug resistance simultaneously enables Candida albicans to escape from intrinsic host defenses.

Abstract (Expand)

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans frequently produces genetically altered variants to adapt to environmental changes and new host niches in the course of its life-long association with … the human host. Gain-of-function mutations in zinc cluster transcription factors, which result in the constitutive upregulation of their target genes, are a common cause of acquired resistance to the widely used antifungal drug fluconazole, especially during long-term therapy of oropharyngeal candidiasis. In this study, we investigated if C. albicans also can develop resistance to the antimicrobial peptide histatin 5, which is secreted in the saliva of humans to protect the oral mucosa from pathogenic microbes. As histatin 5 has been shown to be transported out of C. albicans cells by the Flu1 efflux pump, we screened a library of C. albicans strains that contain artificially activated forms of all zinc cluster transcription factors of this fungus for increased FLU1 expression. We found that a hyperactive Mrr1, which confers fluconazole resistance by upregulating the multidrug efflux pump MDR1 and other genes, also causes FLU1 overexpression. Similarly to the artificially activated Mrr1, naturally occurring gain-of-function mutations in this transcription factor also caused FLU1 upregulation and increased histatin 5 resistance. Surprisingly, however, Mrr1-mediated histatin 5 resistance was mainly caused by the upregulation of MDR1 instead of FLU1, revealing a previously unrecognized function of the Mdr1 efflux pump. Fluconazole-resistant clinical C. albicans isolates with different Mrr1 gain-of-function mutations were less efficiently killed by histatin 5, and this phenotype was reverted when MRR1 was deleted. Therefore, antimycotic therapy can promote the evolution of strains that, as a consequence of drug resistance mutations, simultaneously have acquired increased resistance against an innate host defense mechanism and are thereby better adapted to certain host niches.

Authors: I. A. I. Hampe, J. Friedman, M. Edgerton, J. Morschhauser

Date Published: 28th Sep 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

The Snf1-activating kinase Sak1 is a key regulator of metabolic adaptation and in vivo fitness of Candida albicans.

Abstract (Expand)

The metabolic flexibility of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans is important for colonisation and infection of different host niches. Complex regulatory networks, in which protein kinases … play central roles, link metabolism and other virulence-associated traits, such as filamentous growth and stress resistance, and thereby control commensalism and pathogenicity. By screening a protein kinase deletion mutant library that was generated in the present work using an improved SAT1 flipper cassette, we found that the previously uncharacterised kinase Sak1 is a key upstream activator of the protein kinase Snf1, a highly conserved regulator of nutrient stress responses that is essential for viability in C. albicans. The sak1Delta mutants failed to grow on many alternative carbon sources and were hypersensitive to cell wall/membrane stress. These phenotypes were mirrored in mutants lacking other subunits of the SNF1 complex and partially compensated by a hyperactive form of Snf1. Transcriptional profiling of sak1Delta mutants showed that Sak1 ensures basal expression of glyoxylate cycle and gluconeogenesis genes even in glucose-rich media and thereby contributes to the metabolic plasticity of C. albicans. In a mouse model of gastrointestinal colonisation, sak1Delta mutants were rapidly outcompeted by wild-type cells, demonstrating that Sak1 is essential for the in vivo fitness of C. albicans.

Authors: B. Ramirez-Zavala, A. Mottola, J. Haubenreisser, S. Schneider, S. Allert, S. Brunke, K. Ohlsen, B. Hube, J. Morschhauser

Date Published: 25th Mar 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

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