A critical role of calcineurin in stress responses, hyphal formation, and virulence of the pathogenic fungus Trichosporon asahii.

ABSTRACT: Trichosporon asahii is a conditional pathogenic fungus that causes severe and sometimes fatal infections in immunocompromised patients. While calcineurin, an essential component of a calcium-dependent signaling pathway, is known to regulate stress resistance and virulence of some pathogenic fungi, its role in T. asahii has not been investigated. Here, we demonstrated that calcineurin gene-deficient T. asahii mutants are sensitive to high temperature as well as cell-membrane and cell-wall stress, and exhibit decreased hyphal formation and virulence against silkworms. Growth of T. asahii mutants deficient in genes encoding subunits of calcineurin, cna1 and cnb1, was delayed at 40 °C. The cna1 and cnb1 gene-deficient mutants also showed sensitivity to sodium dodecyl sulfate, Congo red, dithio

SUBMITTER: Matsumoto Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9515189 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature