Comparative transcriptomics of infectious spores from the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum reveals a core set of transcripts that specify infectious and pathogenic states.

ABSTRACT: Histoplasma capsulatum is a fungal pathogen that infects both healthy and immunocompromised hosts. In regions where it is endemic, H. capsulatum grows in the soil and causes respiratory and systemic disease when inhaled by humans. An interesting aspect of H. capsulatum biology is that it adopts specialized developmental programs in response to its environment. In the soil, it grows as filamentous chains of cells (mycelia) that produce asexual spores (conidia). When the soil is disrupted, conidia aerosolize and are inhaled by mammalian hosts. Inside a host, conidia germinate into yeast-form cells that colonize immune cells and cause disease. Despite the ability of conidia to initiate infection and disease, they have not been explored on a molecular level. We developed methods to purify H. c

SUBMITTER: Inglis DO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3675998 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature