Candida albicans: A Model Organism for Studying Fungal Pathogens

Abstract

Candida albicans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen that causes candidiasis. As healthcare has been improved worldwide, the number of immunocompromised patients has been increased to a greater extent and they are highly susceptible to various pathogenic microbes and C. albicans has been prominent among the fungal pathogens. The complete genome sequence of this pathogen is now available and has been extremely useful for the identification of repertoire of genes present in this pathogen. The major challenge is now to assign the functions to these genes of which 13% are specific to C. albicans. Due to its close relationship with yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an edge over other fungal pathogens because most of the technologies can be directly transferred to C. albicans from S. cerevisiae and it is amenable to mutation, gene disruption, and transformation. The last two decades have witnessed enormous amount of research activities on this pathogen that leads to the understanding of host-parasite interaction, infections, and disease propagation. Clearly, C. albicans has emerged as a model organism for studying fungal pathogens along with other two fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans. Understanding its complete life style of C. albicans will undoubtedly be useful for developing potential antifungal drugs and tackling Candida infections. This will also shed light on the functioning of other fungal pathogens.

Activity of Some Disinfectants, Detergents and Essential Oils on Growth of the yeast Candida albicans

“…Results and Discussion C. albicans live as harmless commensals in the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract. Overgrowth of these organisms leads to disease [26]. More than three fourth of women will suffer from a C. albicans infection, usually vulvovaginal candidiasis, in their lifetimes [27].…”

New pharmacological properties of Medicago sativa and Saponaria officinalis saponin-rich fractions addressed to Candida albicans

“…A number of factors contribute to the higher resistance of microbial biofilm to environmental stress conditions, including chemotherapeutics and host immune response, thus making biofilm an important aetiological agent of human disease. The reasons for this increased resistance must be sought primarily in the specific structure and unique physiology of this community, and the case of C. albicans biofilm in particular involves various morphological yeast forms and mixed bacterial-fungal biofilms, which are much more difficult to diagnose and treat (Bhattacharyya et al, 2013;Bink et al, 2011;Kabir et al, 2012;Mathé & van Dijck, 2013;Sardi et al, 2013).…”

“…It causes a diverse range of pathologies -from local cutaneous and mucosal infections (e.g. candidiasis of nail shafts and nails, oropharyngeal candidiasis, intestinal candidiasis) to lifethreatening systemic infections, such as candidaemia, fungal pneumonia, meningitidis or endocarditis (Cannon et al, 2009;Kabir et al, 2012;Kabir & Ahmad, 2013;Sardi et al, 2013; Tlamçani & Er-rami, 2013). Endogenous candidaemia and the carrier state are the main mechanisms of Candida spp.…”

“…These forms also play a unique role in the process of C. albicans biofilm development. Their presence provides stability to the biofilm structure, and, in addition, the EPS matrix is bound to both yeast and hyphal cells (Kabir et al, 2012;Mathé & van Dijck, 2013;Sardi et al, 2013). In vitro research shows that yeast cells usually constitute the basal layer of the biofilm from which filamentous cells arise.…”

“…A number of factors contribute to the higher resistance of microbial biofilm to environmental stress conditions, including chemotherapeutics and host immune response, thus making biofilm an important aetiological agent of human disease. The reasons for this increased resistance must be sought primarily in the specific structure and unique physiology of this community, and the case of C. albicans biofilm in particular involves various morphological yeast forms and mixed bacterial-fungal biofilms, which are much more difficult to diagnose and treat (Bhattacharyya et al, 2013;Bink et al, 2011;Kabir et al, 2012;Mathé & van Dijck, 2013;Sardi et al, 2013).Relatively few antimycotic groups have been identified, including polyenes, azoles, echinocandins, allylamines and 5-flucytosine (Kabir & Ahmad, 2013; Pemán et al, 2009;Rajeshkumar & Sundararaman, 2012). Furthermore, the growing resistance of C. albicans and other Candida species to antifungal compounds and the participation of their biofilms in the development of pathological lesions have led to an urgent need to develop alternative therapy.…”