Project description:The present study was designed to test the hypothesis of a widespread photochemical trait in fruiting body-forming fungal species. The biomaterial was selected based on Gill and Steglich's classification of fungal pigments, which focuses on their biosynthetic origin. With the aim to cover most described pigment types, 48 different species were selected. Second, dried and ground fruiting bodies were extracted and subjected to UPLC-HRMS/MS measurement.
Project description:This dataset includes .mzXML MS profiles for 110 fungal strains each grown on 3 media conditions for used for integrated metabologenomics analysis. Data were collected on a Q Exactive mass spectrometer. Solvent blanks, media blanks, and technical replicates for a subset of strains are also included.
Project description:Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) affects nearly ¾ of women during their lifetime and its symptoms seriously reduce quality of life. Although Candida albicans is a common commensal, it is unknown if VVC results from a commensal to pathogenic state switch, if only some strains can cause VVC, and/or if there is displacement of commensal strains with more pathogenic strains. We studied a set of VVC and Colonizing C. albicans strains to identify consistent in vitro phenotypes associated with one group or the other. We find that the strains do not differ in overall genetic profile or behavior in culture media (i.e. MLST profile, rate of growth, filamentation), but they show strikingly different behavior during their interactions with vaginal epithelial cells. Epithelial infections with VVC-derived strains yielded stronger fungal proliferation and shedding of fungi and epithelial cells. RNA-seq analysis of representative epithelial cell infections with selected pathogenic or commensal isolates identified several differentially activated epithelial signaling pathways, including the integrin, ferroptosis and type I interferon pathways; the latter has been implicated in damage protection. The type I interferon pathway is activated more by the Colonizing strains, while type I interferon inhibition selectively increases fungal shedding of only the colonizing fungi. These data suggest that VVC strains may intrinsically have more pathogenic potential via differential elicitation of epithelial responses, including type I interferon pathway. Therefore, it may be possible to evaluate pathogenic potential in vitro to refine VVC diagnosis.