Farnesol and phosphorylation of the transcriptional regulator Efg1 affect Candida albicans white-opaque switching rates.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans is a normal member of the human microbiome and an opportunistic fungal pathogen. This species undergoes several morphological transitions, and here we consider white-opaque switching. In this switching program, C. albicans reversibly alternates between two cell types, named "white" and "opaque," each of which is normally stable across thousands of cell divisions. Although switching under most conditions is stochastic and rare, certain environmental signals or genetic manipulations can dramatically increase the rate of switching. Here, we report the identification of two new inputs which affect white-to-opaque switching rates. The first, exposure to sub-micromolar concentrations of (E,E)-farnesol, reduces white-to-opaque switching by ten-fold or more. The second input, an i

SUBMITTER: Brenes LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9858334 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature