Iron is an essential nutrient for all living organisms and human pathogens employ a battery of factors to scavenge iron from the high-affinity iron-binding host proteins. In the present study, we have elucidated, via a candidate gene approach, major iron acquisition and homoeostatic mechanisms operational in an opportunistic human fungal pathogen Candida glabrata. Phenotypic, biochemical and molecular analysis of a set of 13 C. glabrata strains, deleted for proteins potentially implicated in iron metabolism, revealed that the high-affinity reductive iron uptake system is required for utilization of alternate carbon sources and for growth under both in vitro iron-limiting and in vivo conditions. Furthermore, we show for the first time that the cysteine-rich CFEM (common in fungal extracellular membranes) domain-containing cell wall structural protein, CgCcw14, and a putative haemolysin, CgMam3, are essential for maintenance of intracellular iron content, adherence to epithelial cells and virulence. Consistent with their roles in iron homoeostasis, mitochondrial aconitase activity was lower and higher in mutants disrupted for high-affinity iron transport, and haemolysin respectively. Additionally, we present evidence that the mitochondrial frataxin, CgYfh1, is pivotal to iron metabolism. Besides yielding insights into major in vitro and in vivo iron acquisition strategies, our findings establish high-affinity iron uptake mechanisms as critical virulence determinants in C. glabrata.
Candida glabrata has emerged as a major fungal pathogen over the last two decades, although our understanding of its survival strategies inside the mammalian host remains rudimentary. An important requirement for survival in vivo is the ability to acquire critical nutrients such as iron from host niches of varied iron content. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that C. glabrata cells respond to high external iron levels via activation of two stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases, CgHog1 and CgSlt2, and lack of either kinase results in sensitivity to the high-iron medium. Furthermore, we show that CgHOG1 deletion led to perturbed iron homeostasis (elevated intracellular iron content and high mitochondrial aconitase activity), reduced survival in macrophages and attenuated virulence in the murine model of disseminated candidiasis. Consistently, several genes implicated in iron acquisition and storage displayed deregulated expression in the Cghog1Δ mutant. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling analysis revealed upregulation of genes implicated in DNA repair, RNA processing and autophagy, and downregulation of genes related to cellular respiration and organonitrogen compound metabolism under iron-limiting conditions. In contrast, genes involved in the respiratory electron transport chain were induced under iron-replete conditions. Gene expression microarrays also identified a set of iron-responsive regulon in C. glabrata. Lastly, we present evidence for the iron-regulated expression of the major adhesin-encoding EPA1 gene, decreased histone deacetylase activity in a high-iron environment and increased adherence of iron-surplus-medium-grown C. glabrata cells to epithelial cells. Together, our findings yield novel insights into iron abundance-based regulation of transcriptional and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways in C. glabrata.
The QDR (quinidine drug resistance) family of genes encodes transporters belonging to the MFS (major facilitator superfamily) of proteins. We show that QDR transporters, which are localized to the plasma membrane, do not play a role in drug transport. Hence, null mutants of QDR1, QDR2 and QDR3 display no alterations in susceptibility to azoles, polyenes, echinocandins, polyamines or quinolines, or to cell wall inhibitors and many other stresses. However, the deletion of QDR genes, individually or collectively, led to defects in biofilm architecture and thickness. Interestingly, QDR-lacking strains also displayed attenuated virulence, but the strongest effect was observed with qdr2∆, qdr3∆ and in qdr1/2/3∆ strains. Notably, the attenuated virulence and biofilm defects could be reversed upon reintegration of QDR genes. Transcripts profiling confirmed differential expression of many biofilm and virulence-related genes in the deletion strains as compared with wild-type Candida albicans cells. Furthermore, lipidomic analysis of QDR-deletion mutants suggests massive remodelling of lipids, which may affect cell signalling, leading to the defect in biofilm development and attenuation of virulence. In summary, the results of the present study show that QDR paralogues encoding MFS antiporters do not display conserved functional linkage as drug transporters and perform functions that significantly affect the virulence of C. albicans.
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