Budding off: bringing functional genomics toCandida albicans

Abstract

Candida species are the most prevalent human fungal pathogens, with Candida albicans being the most clinically relevant species. Candida albicans resides as a commensal of the human gastrointestinal tract but is a frequent cause of opportunistic mucosal and systemic infections. Investigation of C. albicans virulence has traditionally relied on candidate gene approaches, but recent advances in functional genomics have now facilitated global, unbiased studies of gene function. Such studies include comparative genomics (both between and within Candida species), analysis of total RNA expression, and regulation and delineation of protein-DNA interactions. Additionally, large collections of mutant strains have begun to aid systematic screening of clinically relevant phenotypes. Here, we will highlight the development of functional genomics in C. albicans and discuss the use of these approaches to addressing both commensalism and pathogenesis in this species.

Evolutionary Emergence of Drug Resistance in Candida Opportunistic Pathogens

“…High genomic plasticity is one of the characteristics of Candida yeasts that enables their fast adaptation to varying environments [ 62 , 63 , 64 ]. Upon exposure to drugs, the yeast cell population is subjected to a strong selection towards the subset of cells that can better adapt to the stressing conditions [ 65 ].…”

Use of the Iron-Responsive RBT5 Promoter for Regulated Expression in Candida albicans

“… C. albicans is commensal on mucosal surfaces of the gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts in healthy individuals and can cause severe systemic infections in at-risk patients ( 6 ). Our understanding of virulence determinants is based mainly on deletion mutations, which cause a loss of gene function ( 7 ). However, as discussed in depth by Rai et al ( 3 ), gene overexpression approaches have exceptional value for analysis of genetic redundancy, functional sufficiency, and epistasis or pathway relationships.…”

Utilization of Hybrid Assembly Approach to Determine the Genome of an Opportunistic Pathogenic Fungus, Candida albicans TIMM 1768

“…In the pregenomic era, C. albicans virulence studies were performed by the functional elucidation of a few candidate genes. Global studies were recently facilitated by the availability of the C. albicans genome sequence and functional genomic approaches ( Anderson and Bennett 2016 ).…”