Candida albicans Induces Arginine Biosynthetic Genes in Response to Host-Derived Reactive Oxygen Species

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe interaction ofCandida albicanswith phagocytes of the host's innate immune system is highly dynamic, and its outcome directly impacts the progression of infection. While the switch to hyphal growth within the macrophage is the most obvious physiological response, much of the genetic response reflects nutrient starvation: translational repression and induction of alternative carbon metabolism. Changes in amino acid metabolism are not seen, with the striking exception of arginine biosynthesis, which is upregulated in its entirety during coculture with macrophages. Using single-cell reporters, we showed here that arginine biosynthetic genes are induced specifically in phagocytosed cells. This induction is lower in magnitude than during arginine starvationin vitroand is driven not by an arginine deficiency within the phagocyte but instead by exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Curiously, these genes are induced in a narrow window of sublethal ROS concentrations.C. albicanscells phagocytosed by primary macrophages deficient in thegp91phoxsubunit of the phagocyte oxidase do not express theARGpathway, indicating that the induction is dependent on the phagocyte oxidative burst.C. albicans argpathway mutants are retarded in germ tube and hypha formation within macrophages but are not notably more sensitive to ROS. We also find that theARGpathway is regulated not by the general amino acid control response but by transcriptional regulators similar to theSaccharomyces cerevisiaeArgR complex. In summary, phagocytosis induces this single amino acid biosynthetic pathway in an ROS-dependent manner.