Microevolution of Cryptococcus neoformans in high CO₂ converges on mutations isolated from patients with relapsed cryptococcosis.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcus neoformans is an environmental fungus that causes an estimated 180,000 deaths annually and transitions from the external environment to the host environment to cause disease. CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere (0.04%) are dramatically lower than in mammalian tissues (5%). Environmental C. neoformans strains that cannot tolerate 5% CO₂ are less virulent than CO₂-tolerant strains. Microevolution at elevated CO₂ generates loss-of-function mutations in the nucleotide binding protein Avc1 that confer CO₂ tolerance to CO₂-intolerant strains. Mechanistically, Avc1 positively regulates the expression of plasma membrane transporters, including PDR9, a phospholipid floppase that negatively modulates CO₂ fitne

SUBMITTER: Chadwick BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12911315 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature