Isolation, characterization, and localization of a capsule-associated gene, CAP10, of Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic fungus which most commonly affects the central nervous system and causes fatal meningoencephalitis primarily in patients with AIDS. This fungus produces a thick extracellular polysaccharide capsule which is well recognized as a virulence factor. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of a novel gene, CAP10, which is required for capsule formation. Complementation of the acapsular cap10 mutant produced an encapsulated strain and the deletion of CAP10 from a wild strain resulted in an acapsular phenotype. The molecular mass of the hemagglutinin epitope-tagged Cap10p is about 73 kDa, which is similar to the size predicted from sequence analysis. When CAP10 was fused with a hybrid green fluorescent protein construct, the fluorescence signal

SUBMITTER: Chang YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC94082 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature