Cryptococcus neoformans
 var.
 neoformans
 (Serotype D) Strains Are More Susceptible to Heat than
 C. neoformans
 var.
 grubii
 (Serotype A) Strains

Martinez, Luis R.; Garcia-Rivera, Javier; Casadevall, Arturo

doi:10.1128/jcm.39.9.3365-3367.2001

Cited by 84 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…This supports the hypothesis that the low-iron environment of the host is a key contributing factor in the induction of transcription of these heat shock protein genes in vivo. This difference between serotype A and D strains in temperature stress responses further supports the known differences between serotype A and D strains in their growth abilities at high temperature (57). In addition to genes that play a role in the response to heat stress, we also identified genes that play a role in oxidative stress.…”

Section: Vol 2 2003 Cryptococcus Neoformans Transcription In Vivo 1343supporting

confidence: 57%

Cryptococcus neoformans Gene Expression during Experimental Cryptococcal Meningitis

et al. 2003

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Cryptococcus neoformans, an encapsulated basidiomycete fungus of medical importance, is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and causing meningitis in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. To gain insight into the adaptation of the fungus to the host central nervous system (CNS), serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was used to characterize the gene expression profile of C. neoformans cells recovered from the CNS of infected rabbits. A SAGE library was constructed, and 49,048 tags were sequenced; 16,207 of these tags were found to represent unique sequences or tag families. Of the 304 most-abundant tags, 164 were assigned to a putative gene for subsequent functional grouping. The results (as determined according to the number of tags that identified genes encoding proteins required for these functions) indicated that the C. neoformans cells were actively engaged in protein synthesis, protein degradation, stress response, smallmolecule transport, and signaling. In addition, a high level of energy requirement of the fungal cells was suggested by a large number of tags that matched putative genes for energy production. Taken together, these findings provide the first insight into the transcriptional adaptation of C. neoformans to the host environment and identify the set of fungal genes most highly expressed during cerebrospinal fluid infection.

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Section: Vol 2 2003 Cryptococcus Neoformans Transcription In Vivo 1343supporting

confidence: 57%

Cryptococcus neoformans Gene Expression during Experimental Cryptococcal Meningitis

et al. 2003

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“…These results indicate that elevated temperature is a stressful condition for this fungus. It will be interesting to examine whether this pattern is reinforced by a more detailed analysis of the H99 strain because isolates of this serotype (A) are more commonly associated with infections in North America, and strains of this serotype are generally more heat tolerant (Martinez et al 2001). The completion and annotation of the genomic sequence for C. neoformans will allow a more detailed exploration of the generalities of the differential expression described above, and allow the identification of new patterns of temperature-regulated gene expression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-Regulated Transcription in the Pathogenic Fungus Cryptococcus neoformans

Steen¹,

Lian²,

Zuyderduyn³

et al. 2002

Genome Res.

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The basidiomycete fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic pathogen of worldwide importance that causes meningitis, leading to death in immunocompromised individuals. Unlike many basidiomycete fungi, C. neoformans is thermotolerant, and its ability to grow at 37°C is considered to be a virulence factor. We used serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) to characterize the transcriptomes of C. neoformans strains that represent two varieties with different polysaccharide capsule serotypes. These include a serotype D strain of the C. neoformans variety neoformans and a serotype A strain of variety grubii. In this report, we describe the construction and characterization of SAGE libraries from each strain grown at 25°C and 37°C. The SAGE data reveal transcriptome differences between the two strains, even at this early stage of analysis, and identify sets of genes with higher transcript levels at 25°C or 37°C. Notably, growth at the lower temperature increased transcript levels for histone genes, indicating a general influence of temperature on chromatin structure. At 37°C, we noted elevated transcript levels for several genes encoding heat shock proteins and translation machinery. Some of these genes may play a role in temperature-regulated phenotypes in C. neoformans, such as the adaptation of the fungus to growth in the host and the dimorphic transition between budding and filamentous growth. Overall, this work provides the most comprehensive gene expression data available for C. neoformans; this information will be a critical resource both for gene discovery and genome annotation in this pathogen.[This paper is dedicated to the memory of Michael Smith, founding director of the Biotechnology Laboratory and the British Columbia Genome Sciences Centre. The following individuals kindly provided reagents, samples, or unpublished information as indicated in the paper:

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“…C. neoformans var. neoformans is found primarily in temperate climates and appears to have lower thermotolerance, which may reduce its fitness in the tropics (39). Interestingly, more than half of the isolates were derived from patients that had no known impairment of their immune system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Epidemiology of Clinical Cryptococcus neoformans Strains from India

et al. 2005

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Little is known about the molecular epidemiology of the human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans in India, a country now in the midst of an epidemic of AIDS-related cryptococcosis. We studied 57 clinical isolates from several regions in India, of which 51 were C. neoformans var. grubii, 1 was C. neoformans var. neoformans, and 5 were C. neoformans var. gattii. This strain set included 18 additional sequential isolates from 14 patients. Strains were characterized phenotypically by measuring the polysaccharide capsule and by determining the MICs of standard antifungals. Molecular typing was performed by a PCR-based method using the minisatellite-specific core sequence (M13), by electrophoretic karyotyping, by restriction fragment length polymorphisms with the C. neoformans transposon 1 (TCN-1), and by URA5 DNA sequence analysis. Overall, Indian isolates were less heterogeneous than isolates from other regions and included a subset that clustered into one group based on URA5 DNA sequence analysis. In summary, our results demonstrate (i) differences in genetic diversity of C. neoformans isolates from India compared to isolates from other regions in the world; (ii) that DNA typing with the TCN-1 probe can adequately distinguish C. neoformans var. grubii strains; (iii) that TCN-1 sequences are absent in many C. neoformans var. gattii strains, supporting previous studies indicating that these strains have a limited geographical dispersal; and (iv) that human cryptococcal infection can be associated with microevolution of the infecting strain and by simultaneous coinfection with two distinct C. neoformans strains.

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Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans (Serotype D) Strains Are More Susceptible to Heat than C. neoformans var. grubii (Serotype A) Strains

Cited by 84 publications

References 20 publications

Cryptococcus neoformans Gene Expression during Experimental Cryptococcal Meningitis

Cryptococcus neoformans Gene Expression during Experimental Cryptococcal Meningitis

Temperature-Regulated Transcription in the Pathogenic Fungus Cryptococcus neoformans

Molecular Epidemiology of Clinical Cryptococcus neoformans Strains from India

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