Is Candida auris sexual?

The Curious Case of Nonrepetitive Centromeric DNA Sequences in Candida auris and Related Species

“…The karyotype (chromosome complement) of C. auris is thus fairly plastic and can change quickly upon stress exposure ( 17 ). This karyotype plasticity could at least in part explain how C. auris generates genetic diversity in the absence of sexual reproduction and meiosis ( 19 ). What role centromeres play in the karyotype diversification of C. auris and other Clavispora yeasts could not be answered until recently, when Sanyal and coworkers mapped the centromeric DNA by chromatin immunoprecipitation approaches of CENP-A ( 7 ).…”

Ploidy changes in human fungal pathogens: Going beyond sexual reproduction

“…auris exhibit a sexual life cycle (e.g., Candida lusitaniae ), sexual reproduction has yet to be described in C . auris , which in some isolates could be the result of inactivating mutations in STE6 encoding the a -pheromone transporter [ 24 ].…”

Similarities and Differences among Species Closely Related to Candida albicans: C. tropicalis, C. dubliniensis, and C. auris

“…In turn, C. dubliniensis, compared to C. albicans, shows a much higher white-to-opaque frequency and does not show clumping dependent on mating, which results in less efficient intraspecific mating than interspecies mating [104]. To date, parasexual reproduction has not been reported for C. auris; however, the presence of a complete mating-type locus suggests that this species may also be capable of parasexuality [105].…”

“…While most fungi reproduce sexually, C. albicans has been shown to have parasexual cycles in which, after the fusion of diploid cells, rather than meiosis, coordinated loss of chromosomes occurs, resulting in viable progeny; this pathway of reproduction increases genetic diversity and contributes to adaptation to stressful environments, but also may mediate drug resistance [103]. The evolutionary role of reproduction, especially parasexual, in other medically important species of the genus Candida has become the subject of recent studies that discuss in detail the regulation of its mechanisms and importance in the evolution of pathogenicity [104][105][106]. Although C. albicans, C. tropicalis, and C. dubliniensis, due to their close relationship, share common features of the parasexual cycle, such as mating between diploid cells, the presence of a stable tetraploid form, coordinated loss of chromosomes, and the ability of diploid progeny to reenter the parasexual process, they also developed their unique attributes of those processes [104,106].…”