Zap1 control of cell-cell signaling in Candida albicans biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms of Candida albicans include both yeast cells and hyphae. Prior studies indicated that a zap1Δ/Δ mutant, defective in zinc regulator Zap1, has increased accumulation of yeast cells in biofilms. This altered yeast-hypha balance may arise from internal regulatory alterations or from an effect on the production of diffusible quorum-sensing (QS) molecules. Here, we develop biosensor reporter strains that express yeast-specific YWP1-RFP or hypha-specific HWP1-RFP, along with a constitutive TDH3-GFP normalization standard. Seeding these biosensor strains into biofilms allows a biological activity assay of the surrounding biofilm milieu. A zap1Δ/Δ biofilm induces the yeast-specific YWP1-RFP reporter in a wild-type biosensor strain, as determined by both quantitative reverse transcription-

SUBMITTER: Ganguly S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3209068 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature