The rapid global emergence and resistance of Candida auris to current antifungal drugs highlight the importance of understanding the virulence traits exploited by this human fungal pathogen to cause disease. Here, we characterize the stress resistance profile of C. auris and the role of the Hog1 stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) in stress resistance and virulence. Our findings that C. auris is acutely sensitive to certain stresses may facilitate control measures to prevent persistent colonization in hospital settings. Furthermore, our observation that the Hog1 SAPK promotes C. auris virulence akin to that reported for many other pathogenic fungi indicates that antifungals targeting Hog1 signaling would be broad acting and effective, even on emerging drug-resistant pathogens.

Objective: To quantify mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle of people treated with contemporary anti-retroviral therapy.Design: Cross-sectional observational study.Methods: Quantitative multiplex immunofluorescence was performed to determine mitochondrial mass and respiratory chain complex abundance in individual myofibres from tibialis anterior biopsies. Individual myofibres were captured by laser microdissection and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and large-scale deletions were measured by real-time PCR.Results: 45 anti-retroviral therapy (ART) treated people with HIV (PWH, mean age 58 years, mean duration of ART 125 months) were compared with 15 HIV negative age-matched controls. Mitochondrial complex I (CI) deficiency was observed at higher proportional levels in PWH than negative controls (p 0.008). Myofibre mitochondrial mass did not differ by HIV status.