Epigenetic control of pheromone MAPK signaling determines sexual fecundity in Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: Several pathogenic Candida species are capable of heritable and reversible switching between two epigenetic states, "white" and "opaque." In Candida albicans, white cells are essentially sterile, whereas opaque cells are mating-proficient. Here, we interrogate the mechanism by which the white-opaque switch regulates sexual fecundity and identify four genes in the pheromone MAPK pathway that are expressed at significantly higher levels in opaque cells than in white cells. These genes encode the β subunit of the G-protein complex (STE4), the pheromone MAPK scaffold (CST5), and the two terminal MAP kinases (CEK1/CEK2). To define the contribution of each factor to mating, C. albicans white cells were reverse-engineered to express elevated, opaque-like

SUBMITTER: Scaduto CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5748179 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature