The Absence of N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine Causes Attenuation of Virulence ofCandida albicansupon Interaction with Vaginal Epithelial CellsIn Vitro

Abstract

To better understand the molecular events underlying vulvovaginal candidiasis, we established anin vitrosystem. Immortalized vaginal epithelial cells were infected with live, yeast formC. albicansandC. albicanscultured in the same medium without vaginal epithelial cells were used as control. In both cases a yeast to hyphae transition was robustly induced. Whole transcriptome sequencing was used to identify specific gene expression changes inC. albicans. Numerous genes leading to a yeast to hyphae transition and hyphae specific genes were upregulated in the control hyphae and the hyphae in response to vaginal epithelial cells. Strikingly, the GlcNAc pathway was exclusively triggered by vaginal epithelial cells. Functional analysis in ourin vitrosystem revealed that the GlcNAc biosynthesis is involved in the adherence to, and the ability to kill, vaginal epithelial cellsin vitro, thus indicating the key role for this pathway in the virulence ofC. albicansupon vulvovaginal candidiasis.