Candida albicans selection for human commensalism results in substantial within-host diversity without decreasing fitness for invasive disease.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans is a frequent colonizer of human mucosal surfaces as well as an opportunistic pathogen. C. albicans is remarkably versatile in its ability to colonize diverse host sites with differences in oxygen and nutrient availability, pH, immune responses, and resident microbes, among other cues. It is unclear how the genetic background of a commensal colonizing population can influence the shift to pathogenicity. Therefore, we examined 910 commensal isolates from 35 healthy donors to identify host niche-specific adaptations. We demonstrate that healthy people are reservoirs for genotypically and phenotypically diverse C. albicans strains. Using limited diversity exploitation, we identified a single nucleotide change in the uncharacterized ZMS1 transcription factor that was sufficien

SUBMITTER: Anderson FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10234564 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature