Passage through the mammalian gut triggers a phenotypic switch required for Candida albicans commensalism

ABSTRACT: Among ~5,000,000 fungal species on Earth, Candida albicans is exceptional in its lifelong association with humans, where it exists either as a benign component of the gastrointestinal microbiome or as an invasive pathogen. Although it is generally assumed that invasiveness results from a breakdown of host immunity , it is also possible that specific fungal programs control the transition between these divergent lifestyles. Here, we report that exposure of C. albicans to the mammalian gut triggers a developmental switch, driven by the Wor1 transcription factor, to a commensal cell type. Wor1 has been thought to occur only in unique genetic backgrounds, but we show that WOR1 expression is triggered when wild-type cells are propagated in a murine gastrointestinal infection model. Similar

ORGANISM(S): Candida albicans

SUBMITTER: Changbin Chen 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-43972 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress