Variation in transcription regulator expression underlies differences in white-opaque switching between the SC5314 reference strain and the majority of Candida albicans clinical isolates.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans, a normal member of the human microbiome and an opportunistic fungal pathogen, undergoes several morphological transitions. One of these transitions is white-opaque switching, where C. albicans alternates between 2 stable cell types with distinct cellular and colony morphologies, metabolic preferences, mating abilities, and interactions with the innate immune system. White-to-opaque switching is regulated by mating type; it is repressed by the a1/α2 heterodimer in a/α cells, but this repression is lifted in a/a and α/α mating type cells (each of which are missing half of the repressor). The widely used C. albicans reference strain, SC5314, is unusual in that white-opaque switching is completely blocked when the cells are a/α; in contrast, most other C. albicans a/α strains

SUBMITTER: Lohse MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10627253 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature