Impact of mating type, serotype, and ploidy on the virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: Hybridization with polyploidization is a significant biological force driving evolution. The effect of combining two distinct genomes in one organism on the virulence potential of pathogenic fungi is not clear. Cryptococcus neoformans, the most common cause of fungal infection of the central nervous system, has a bipolar mating system with a and alpha mating types and occurs as A (haploid), D (haploid), and AD hybrid (mostly diploid) serotypes. Diploid AD hybrids are derived either from a-alpha mating or from unisexual mating between haploid cells. The precise contributions of increased ploidy, the effect of hybridization between serotypes A and D, and the combination of mating types to the virulence potential of AD hybrids have remained elusive. By using in vitro and in vivo characterizat

SUBMITTER: Lin X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446738 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature