This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Other Versions of this Article: EC.00340-06v1 6/4/682    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Argimón, S. Articles by Brown, A. J. P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Argimón, S. Articles by Brown, A. J. P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2007, p. 682-692, Vol. 6, No. 4
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00340-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Developmental Regulation of an Adhesin Gene during Cellular Morphogenesis in the Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans ^,

Silvia Argimón,^1, Jill A. Wishart,^1, Roger Leng,^1,¶ Susan Macaskill,¹ Abigail Mavor,¹ Thomas Alexandris,¹ Susan Nicholls,¹ Andrew W. Knight,² Brice Enjalbert,¹ Richard Walmsley,² Frank C. Odds,¹ Neil A. R. Gow,¹ and Alistair J. P. Brown^1*

School of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom,¹ Gentronix Limited, CTF Building, 46 Grafton Street, Manchester M13 9NT, United Kingdom²

Received 25 October 2006/ Accepted 14 December 2006

Candida albicans expresses specific virulence traits that promote disease establishment and progression. These traits include morphological transitions between yeast and hyphal growth forms that are thought to contribute to dissemination and invasion and cell surface adhesins that promote attachment to the host. Here, we describe the regulation of the adhesin gene ALS3, which is expressed specifically during hyphal development in C. albicans. Using a combination of reporter constructs and regulatory mutants, we show that this regulation is mediated by multiple factors at the transcriptional level. The analysis of ALS3 promoter deletions revealed that this promoter contains two activation regions: one is essential for activation during hyphal development, while the second increases the amplitude of this activation. Further deletion analyses using the Renilla reniformis luciferase reporter delineate the essential activation region between positions –471 and –321 of the promoter. Further 5' or 3' deletions block activation. ALS3 transcription is repressed mainly by Nrg1 and Tup1, but Rfg1 contributes to this repression. Efg1, Tec1, and Bcr1 are essential for the transcriptional activation of ALS3, with Tec1 mediating its effects indirectly through Bcr1 rather than through the putative Tec1 sites in the ALS3 promoter. ALS3 transcription is not affected by Cph2, but Cph1 contributes to full ALS3 activation. The data suggest that multiple morphogenetic signaling pathways operate through the promoter of this adhesin gene to mediate its developmental regulation in this major fungal pathogen.

Published ahead of print on 2 February 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://ec.asm.org/.

Present address: Department of Microbiology, Columbia University, 701 West 168th St., New York, NY 10032.

Present address: Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, United Kingdom.

^¶ Present address: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta, 87 Ave. and 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2S2, Canada.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lu, Y., Su, C., Mao, X., Raniga, P. P., Liu, H., Chen, J. (2008). Efg1-mediated Recruitment of NuA4 to Promoters Is Required for Hypha-specific Swi/Snf Binding and Activation in Candida albicans. Mol. Biol. Cell 19: 4260-4272 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Chaffin, W. L. (2008). Candida albicans Cell Wall Proteins. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 72: 495-544 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Goyard, S., Knechtle, P., Chauvel, M., Mallet, A., Prevost, M.-C., Proux, C., Coppee, J.-Y., Schwartz, P., Dromer, F., Park, H., Filler, S. G., Janbon, G., d'Enfert, C. (2008). The Yak1 Kinase Is Involved in the Initiation and Maintenance of Hyphal Growth in Candida albicans. Mol. Biol. Cell 19: 2251-2266 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Sosinska, G. J., de Groot, P. W. J., Teixeira de Mattos, M. J., Dekker, H. L., de Koster, C. G., Hellingwerf, K. J., Klis, F. M. (2008). Hypoxic conditions and iron restriction affect the cell-wall proteome of Candida albicans grown under vagina-simulative conditions. Microbiology 154: 510-520 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Norice, C. T., Smith, F. J. Jr., Solis, N., Filler, S. G., Mitchell, A. P. (2007). Requirement for Candida albicans Sun41 in Biofilm Formation and Virulence. Eukaryot Cell 6: 2046-2055 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wolyniak, M. J., Sundstrom, P. (2007). Role of Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Activation of the Cyclic AMP Pathway and HWP1 Gene Expression in Candida albicans. Eukaryot Cell 6: 1824-1840 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Li, F., Svarovsky, M. J., Karlsson, A. J., Wagner, J. P., Marchillo, K., Oshel, P., Andes, D., Palecek, S. P. (2007). Eap1p, an Adhesin That Mediates Candida albicans Biofilm Formation In Vitro and In Vivo. Eukaryot Cell 6: 931-939 [Abstract] [Full Text]