Genetic Analysis of Candida albicans Filamentation by the Iron Chelator BPS Reveals a Role for a Conserved Kinase-WD40 Protein Pair.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans is a major human pathogenic fungus that is distinguished by its capability to switch from a yeast to a hyphal morphology under different conditions. Here, we analyze the cellular effects of high concentrations of the iron chelator bathophenanthroline disulfonate (BPS). BPS inhibits cellular growth by withholding iron, but when iron chelation is overcome by the addition of hemoglobin as an iron source, the cells resume growth as hyphae. The BPS hyphal induction pathway was characterized by identifying the hyphal-specific transcription factors that it requires and by a forward genetic screen for mutants that fail to form hyphae in BPS using a transposon library generated in a haploid strain. Among the mutants identified are the DYRK1-like kinase Yak1 and Orf19.384, a

SUBMITTER: Pinsky M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10820326 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature