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.

bAntifungal therapy failure can be associated with increased resistance to the employed antifungal agents. Candida glabrata, the second most common cause of invasive candidiasis, is intrinsically less susceptible to the azole class of antifungals and accounts for 15% of all Candida bloodstream infections. Here, we show that C. glabrata MED2 (CgMED2), which codes for a tail subunit of the RNA polymerase II Mediator complex, is required for resistance to azole antifungal drugs in C. glabrata. An inability to transcriptionally activate genes encoding a zinc finger transcriptional factor, CgPdr1, and multidrug efflux pump, CgCdr1, primarily contributes to the elevated susceptibility of the Cgmed2⌬ mutant toward azole antifungals. We also report for the first time that the Cgmed2⌬ mutant exhibits sensitivity to caspofungin, a constitutively activated protein kinase C-mediated cell wall integrity pathway, and elevated adherence to epithelial cells. The increased adherence of the Cgmed2⌬ mutant was attributed to the elevated expression of the EPA1 and EPA7 genes. Further, our data demonstrate that CgMED2 is required for intracellular proliferation in human macrophages and modulates survival in a murine model of disseminated candidiasis. Lastly, we show an essential requirement for CgMed2, along with the Mediator middle subunit CgNut1 and the Mediator cyclin-dependent kinase/ cyclin subunit CgSrb8, for the high-level fluconazole resistance conferred by the hyperactive allele of CgPdr1. Together, our findings underscore a pivotal role for CgMed2 in basal tolerance and acquired resistance to azole antifungals.

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