Discovery of a phenotypic switch regulating sexual mating in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida tropicalis.

ABSTRACT: Sexual reproduction can promote genetic diversity in eukaryotes, and yet many pathogenic fungi have been labeled as obligate asexual species. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that cryptic sexual programs may exist in some species, and that efficient mating requires the necessary developmental switch to be triggered. In this study we investigate Candida tropicalis, an important human fungal pathogen that has been reported to be asexual. Significantly, we demonstrate that C. tropicalis uses a phenotypic switch to regulate a cryptic program of sexual mating. Thus, diploid a and α cells must undergo a developmental transition to the mating-competent form, and only then does efficient cell-cell conjugation take place resulting in the formation of stable a/α tetraploids. We show that

SUBMITTER: Porman AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3248515 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature