Sixty alleles of the ALS7 open reading frame in Candida albicans: ALS7 is a hypermutable contingency locus.

ABSTRACT: The ALS (agglutinin-like sequence) gene family encodes proteins that play a role in adherence of the yeast Candida albicans to endothelial and epithelial cells. The proteins are proposed as virulence factors for this important fungal pathogen of humans. We analyzed 66 C. albicans strains, representing a worldwide collection of 266 infection-causing isolates, and discovered 60 alleles of the ALS7 open reading frame (ORF). Differences between alleles were largely caused by rearrangements of repeat elements in the so-called tandem repeat domain (21 different types occurred) and the VASES region (19 different types). C. albicans is diploid, and combinations of ALS7 alleles generated 49 different genotypes. ALS7 expression was detected in samples isolated directly from five oral candidosis pati

SUBMITTER: Zhang N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC403672 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature