N-Acetylglucosamine-Induced Cell Death in Candida albicans and Its Implications for Adaptive Mechanisms of Nutrient Sensing in Yeasts

ABSTRACT: Single-celled organisms have different strategies to sense and utilize nutrients in their ever-changing environments. The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans is a common member of the human microbiota, especially that of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. An important question concerns how C. albicans gained a competitive advantage over other microbes to become a successful commensal and opportunistic pathogen. Here, we report that C. albicans uses N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), an abundant carbon source present in the GI tract, as a signal for nutrient availability. When placed in water, C. albicans cells normally enter the G0 phase and remain viable for weeks. However, they quickly lose viability when cultured in water containing only GlcNAc. We term this phenomenon GlcNAc-induce

ORGANISM(S): Candida albicans

SUBMITTER: Guanghua Huang 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-64659 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress