Roles of the Transcription Factors Sfl2 and Efg1 in White-Opaque Switching in a/α Strains of Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans remains the most pervasive fungal pathogen colonizing humans. The majority of isolates from hosts are heterozygous at the mating type locus (MTLa/α), and a third of these have recently been shown to be capable of switching to the opaque phenotype. Here we have investigated the roles of two transcription factors (TFs) Sfl2 and Efg1, in repressing switching in a/α strains. Deleting either gene results in the capacity of a/α cells to switch to opaque en masse under facilitating environmental conditions, which include N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) as the carbon source, physiological temperature (37°C), and high CO₂ (5%). These conditions are similar to those in the host. Our results further reveal that while glucose is a repr

SUBMITTER: Park YN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6470211 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature