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ChIP-Seq analysis of Candida albicans Sfl1p and Sfl2p

ABSTRACT: Sfl1p and Sfl2p are two homologous heat shock factor-type transcriptional regulators that antagonistically control morphogenesis in Candida albicans, while being required for full pathogenesis and virulence. To understand how Sfl1p and Sfl2p exert their function, we combined genome-wide location and expression analyses to reveal their transcriptional targets in vivo together with the associated changes of the C. albicans transcriptome. We show that Sfl1p and Sfl2p bind to the promoter of at least 113 common targets through divergent binding motifs and modulate directly the expression of key transcriptional regulators of C. albicans morphogenesis and/or virulence. Surprisingly, we found that Sfl2p additionally binds to the promoter of 75 specific targets, including a high proportion of hyphal-specific genes (HSGs; HWP1, HYR1, ECE1, others), revealing a direct link between Sfl2p and hyphal development. Data mining pointed to a regulatory network in which Sfl1p and Sfl2p act as both transcriptional activators and repressors. Sfl1p directly represses the expression of positive regulators of hyphal growth (BRG1, UME6, TEC1, SFL2), while upregulating both yeast form-associated genes (RME1, RHD1,YWP1) and repressors of morphogenesis (SSN6, NRG1). On the other hand, Sfl2p directly upregulates HSGs and activators of hyphal growth (UME6, TEC1), while downregulating yeast form-associated genes and repressors of morphogenesis (NRG1, RFG1, SFL1). Using genetic interaction analyses, we provide further evidences that Sfl1p and Sfl2p antagonistically control C. albicans morphogenesis through direct modulation of the expression of important regulators of hyphal growth. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that binding of Sfl1p and Sfl2p to their targets occurs with the co-binding of Efg1p and/or Ndt80p. Indeed, we show that Sfl1p and Sfl2p targets are bound by Efg1p and that both Sfl1p and Sfl2p associate in vivo with Efg1p. Taken together, our data suggest that Sfl1p and Sfl2p act as central “switch on/off” proteins to coordinate the regulation of C. albicans morphogenesis.

ORGANISM(S): Candida albicans

PROVIDER: GSE42886 | GEO | 2013/06/15

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA183834

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Sfl1p and Sfl2p are two homologous heat shock factor-type transcriptional regulators that antagonistically control morphogenesis in Candida albicans, while being required for full pathogenesis and virulence. To understand how Sfl1p and Sfl2p exert their function, we combined genome-wide location and expression analyses to reveal their transcriptional targets in vivo together with the associated changes of the C. albicans transcriptome. We show that Sfl1p and Sfl2p bind to the promoter of at least 113 common targets through divergent binding motifs and modulate directly the expression of key transcriptional regulators of C. albicans morphogenesis and/or virulence. Surprisingly, we found that Sfl2p additionally binds to the promoter of 75 specific targets, including a high proportion of hyphal-specific genes (HSGs; HWP1, HYR1, ECE1, others), revealing a direct link between Sfl2p and hyphal development. Data mining pointed to a regulatory network in which Sfl1p and Sfl2p act as both transcriptional activators and repressors. Sfl1p directly represses the expression of positive regulators of hyphal growth (BRG1, UME6, TEC1, SFL2), while upregulating both yeast form-associated genes (RME1, RHD1,YWP1) and repressors of morphogenesis (SSN6, NRG1). On the other hand, Sfl2p directly upregulates HSGs and activators of hyphal growth (UME6, TEC1), while downregulating yeast form-associated genes and repressors of morphogenesis (NRG1, RFG1, SFL1). Using genetic interaction analyses, we provide further evidences that Sfl1p and Sfl2p antagonistically control C. albicans morphogenesis through direct modulation of the expression of important regulators of hyphal growth. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that binding of Sfl1p and Sfl2p to their targets occurs with the co-binding of Efg1p and/or Ndt80p. Indeed, we show that Sfl1p and Sfl2p targets are bound by Efg1p and that both Sfl1p and Sfl2p associate in vivo with Efg1p. Taken together, our data suggest that Sfl1p and Sfl2p act as central M-bM-^@M-^\switch on/offM-bM-^@M-^] proteins to coordinate the regulation of C. albicans morphogenesis. ChIP was performed in 2 independently grown C. albicans sfl1 or sfl2 homozygous mutant strains expressing (sfl1-CaEXP-SFL1-HA or sfl2-CaEXP-SFL2-HA, respectively) or not (sfl1-CaEXP or sfl2-CaEXP, respectively) SFL1-HA or SFL2-HA (-HA, 3'-triple-HA-tagged alleles of SFL1 or SFL2) under the control of a methionine-repressible promoter (Total samples = 8; 2xCaEXP-SFL1-HA, 2xCaEXP-SFL2-HA, 2xCaEXP control for SFL1-HA ChIP and 2xCaEXP control for SFL2-HA ChIP).

Project description:Deleting components of the Arp2/3 complex in Candida albicans resulted in a global lack of hyphal specific gene induction. This observation suggests that the failure in hyphal growth of Arp2/3 complex mutants could be a result of failure to activate hyphal specific genes. If the hyphal defect was primarily due to failure to activate gene expression, de-repressing hyphal-specific gene expression by deleting the NRG1 repressor could potentially suppress the defect, as deletion of NRG1 leads to constitutive filamentous growth even in the absence of any hyphal induction signals (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2005, Kadosh & Johnson, 2005). We therefore created an nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant. When grown under non-inducing conditions, nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î cells showed the arp2Î/Î mutant morphology of round and swollen cells. When induced for hyphal growth, nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î cells also exhibited the arp2Î/Î cell morphology and did not form hyphae even after extended overnight incubation times. To determine if the hyphal-specific genes are de-repressed in the nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant, we performed transcript profiling. We compared the nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant grown under hyphal conditions to the arp2Î/Î mutant grown under the same conditions (10% serum, 37ï°C, three hours), and found that a significant number of hyphal-specific genes that are normally induced when WT cells are undergoing the yeast to hyphae switch (WT-HY) showed greater expression in the nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant compared to arp2Î/Î cells (p-value 4.9x10-9). When we examined the set of NRG1-dependent hyphal-specific genes previously identified (Kadosh & Johnson, 2005), we found that seven of 28 genes (HYR1, SAP5, SAP4, KIP4, ORF19.6079, ALS3 and UME6) showed significantly increased expression (â¥ 2 fold) in nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î cells compared to arp2Î/Î cells, while a further four genes (IHD1, CBP1, ORF19.6705 and ALS10) showed moderately increased expression between 1.5 and 2-fold. Thus, while deleting a transcriptional repressor of the filamentation program leads to de-repression of many hyphal genes, the entire regulated gene set is not de-repressed; this presumably reflects the complex interplay that different transcriptional (co-) repressors exert on the yeast-to-hyphae transition (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2005, Kadosh & Johnson, 2005). We further found that despite the increased induction of some hyphal genes in the nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant, a few of those genes are not as highly induced as in WT cells. One gene that was induced in both the ânrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î vs arp2Î/Îâ and the ânrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î vs WTâ-comparisons is UME6, a recently identified key regulator of the hyphal program (Banerjee et al., 2008, Zeidler et al., 2009). Interestingly, although constitutive over-expression of UME6 in WT cells resulted in constitutive filamentous growth even in the absence of hyphae signals (Carlisle et al., 2009), the increased expression level of UME6 in the nrg1Î/Îarp2Î/Î mutant is not sufficient to restore filamentation in the absence of a functional Arp2/3 complex. Thus despite partial de-repression of the hyphal program, hyphae do not form, making it likely other roles of the Arp2/3 complex, such as its function in actin patch formation and actin branching, are required for hyphal development.

Project description:Candida albicans is a part of the normal microbiome of human mucosa and is able to thrive in a wide range of host environments. As an opportunistic pathogen, the virulence of C. albicans is tied to its ability to switch between yeast and hyphal morphologies in response to various environmental cues, one of which includes nutrient availability. Thus, metabolic flexibility plays an important role in the virulence of the pathogen. Our previous study has shown that C. albicans Yeast Casein Kinase 2 (CaYck2) regulates the yeast-to-hyphal switch, but its regulatory mechanisms remain unknown. This study further elucidated the role of Yck2 in governing morphology and carbon metabolism by analyzing the transcriptome and metabolome of the C. albicans YCK2 deletion mutant strain (yck2Δ strain) in comparison to the wild type strain. Our study revealed that loss of CaYck2 perturbs carbon metabolism, leading to a transcriptional response that resembles a transcriptional response to glucose starvation with coinciding intracellular accumulation of glucose and depletion of TCA cycle metabolites. This shift in the metabolome is likely mediated by derepression of glucose-repressed genes in the Mig1/2-mediated glucose sensing pathway and by downregulation of glycolytic genes, possibly through the Rgt1-mediated SRR pathway. In addition, genes involved in beta-oxidation, glyoxylate cycle, oxidative stress response, and arginine biosynthesis were upregulated in the yck2Δ strain, which is highly reminiscent of C. albicans engulfment by macrophages. This coincides with an increase in arginine degradation intermediates in the yck2Δ strain, suggesting arginine catabolism as a potential mechanism of CaYck2-mediated filamentation as seen during C. albicans escape from macrophages. Transcriptome analysis also shows differential expression of hyphal transcriptional regulators Nrg1 and Ume6. This suggests dysregulation of hyphal initiation and elongation in the yck2Δ strain which may lead to the constitutive pseudohyphal phenotype of this strain. Metabolome analysis also detected a high abundance of methyl citrate cycle intermediates in the yck2Δ strain, suggesting the importance of CaYck2 in this pathway. Taken together, we discovered that CaYck2 is an integral piece of carbon metabolism and morphogenesis of C. albicans.

Project description:Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can infect oral mucosal surfaces despite being under continuous flow from saliva. Previous studies have shown that under specific conditions C. albicans will form microcolonies that more closely resemble the biofilms formed in vivo than standard in vitro biofilm models. However, very little is known about these microcolonies, particularly genomic differences between these specialized biofilm structures and the traditional in vitro biofilms. In this study, we used a novel flow system, in which C. albicans spontaneously forms microcolonies, to further characterize the architecture of fungal microcolonies and their genomics compared to non-microcolony conditions. Fungal microcolonies arise from radially branching filamentous hyphae that increasingly intertwine with one another to form extremely dense biofilms, and closely resemble the architecture of in vivo oropharyngeal candidiasis. We identified 20 core microcolony genes that were differentially regulated in flow-induced microcolonies using RNA-seq. These genes included HWP1, ECE1, IHD1, PLB1, HYR1, PGA10, and SAP5. To better understand the regulatory elements for microcolonies, we utilized a predictive algorithm to discover ten transcriptional regulators potentially involved in microcolony formation. Of these transcription factors, we found that six played a key role in microcolony formation and development (Rob1, Ndt80, Efg1, Sfl1, Sfl2, and Nrg1). We also found that Hwp1, Sap5, Pga10, and all the microcolony regulators promoted adhesion and invasion of the microcolonies to oral epithelium. Furthermore, epithelial cells infected with deletion mutants of ROB1, NDT80, SFL2, EFG1, and MCM1 had reduced immune response, evidenced by reduced phosphorylation of MKP1 and c-Fos, key signal transducers in the hyphal invasion response. This profile of microcolony transcriptional regulators more closely reflects Sfl1 and Sfl2 hyphal regulatory networks than biofilm regulatory networks, suggesting that hyphal morphogenesis plays a more central role in the development of flow-induced microcolonies.

Project description:Morphogenetic transitions are prevalent in the fungal kingdom. For a leading human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, the capacity to transition between yeast and filaments is key for virulence. For the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, filamentation enables nutrient acquisition. A recent functional genomic screen in S. cerevisiae identified Mfg1 as a regulator of morphogenesis that acts in complex with Flo8 and Mss11 to mediate transcriptional responses crucial for filamentation. In C. albicans, Mfg1 also interacts physically with Flo8 and Mss11 and is critical for filamentation in response to diverse cues, but the mechanisms through which it regulates morphogenesis remained elusive. Here, we explored the consequences of perturbation of Mfg1, Flo8, and Mss11 on C. albicans morphogenesis, and identified functional divergence of complex members. We observed that C. albicans Mss11 was dispensable for filamentation, and that overexpression of FLO8 caused constitutive filamentation even in the absence of Mfg1. Harnessing transcriptional profiling and chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to microarray analysis, we identified divergence between transcriptional targets of Flo8 and Mfg1 in C. albicans. We also established that Flo8 and Mfg1 cooperatively bind to promoters of key regulators of filamentation, including TEC1, for which overexpression was sufficient to restore filamentation in the absence of Flo8 or Mfg1. To further explore the circuitry through which Mfg1 regulates morphogenesis, we employed a novel strategy to select for mutations that restore filamentation in the absence of Mfg1. Whole genome sequencing of filamentation-competent mutants revealed chromosome 6 amplification as a conserved adaptive mechanism. A key determinant of the chromosome 6 amplification is FLO8, as deletion of one allele blocked morphogenesis, and chromosome 6 was not amplified in evolved lineages for which FLO8 was re-located to a different chromosome. Thus, this work highlights rewiring of key morphogenetic regulators over evolutionary time and aneuploidy as an adaptive mechanism driving fungal morphogenesis.

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ChIP-Seq analysis of Candida albicans Sfl1p and Sfl2p

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