Identification and Characterization of Wor4, a New Transcriptional Regulator of White-Opaque Switching.

ABSTRACT: The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans can switch between two cell types, "white" and "opaque," each of which is heritable through many cell divisions. Switching between these two cell types is regulated by six transcriptional regulators that form a highly interconnected circuit with multiple feedback loops. Here, we identify a seventh regulator of white-opaque switching, which we have named Wor4. We show that ectopic expression of Wor4 is sufficient to drive switching from the white to the opaque cell type, and that deletion of Wor4 blocks switching from the white to the opaque cell type. A combination of ectopic expression and deletion experiments indicates that Wor4 is positioned upstream of Wor1, and that it is formally an activator of the opaque cell type. The combination of ectop

SUBMITTER: Lohse MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4777133 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature