Candida albicans Ume6, a filament-specific transcriptional regulator, directs hyphal growth via a pathway involving Hgc1 cyclin-related protein.
Abstract
The ability of Candida albicans, the most common human fungal pathogen, to transition from yeast to hyphae is essential for pathogenicity. While a variety of transcription factors important for filamentation have been identified and characterized, links between transcriptional regulators of C. albicans morphogenesis and molecular mechanisms that drive hyphal growth are not well defined. We have previously observed that constitutive expression of UME6, which encodes a filament-specific transcriptional regulator, is sufficient to direct hyphal growth in the absence of filament-inducing conditions. Here we show that HGC1, encoding a cyclin-related protein necessary for hyphal growth under filament-inducing conditions, is specifically important for agar invasion, hyphal extension, and formation of true septa in response to constitutive UME6 expression under non-filament-inducing conditions. HGC1-dependent inactivation of Rga2, a Cdc42 GTPase activating protein (GAP), also appears to be important for these processes. In response to filament-inducing conditions, HGC1 is induced prior to UME6 although UME6 controls the level and duration of HGC1 expression, which are likely to be important for hyphal extension. Interestingly, an epist...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Ppg1, a PP2A-type protein phosphatase, controls filament extension and virulence in Candida albicans
Hyphae-specific genes HGC1, ALS3, HWP1, and ECE1 and relevant signaling pathways in Candida albicans
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