Transmission of Hypervirulence traits via sexual reproduction within and between lineages of the human fungal pathogen cryptococcus gattii.

ABSTRACT: Since 1999 a lineage of the pathogen Cryptococcus gattii has been infecting humans and other animals in Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the USA. It is now the largest outbreak of a life-threatening fungal infection in a healthy population in recorded history. The high virulence of outbreak strains is closely linked to the ability of the pathogen to undergo rapid mitochondrial tubularisation and proliferation following engulfment by host phagocytes. Most outbreaks spread by geographic expansion across suitable niches, but it is known that genetic re-assortment and hybridisation can also lead to rapid range and host expansion. In the context of C. gattii, however, the likelihood of virulence traits associated with the outbreak lineages spreading to other lineages via genetic exchange is

SUBMITTER: Voelz K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3764205 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature