High-Resolution Genome-Wide Occupancy in Candida spp. Using ChEC-seq

Abstract

Systemic fungal infections caused by Candida albicans and the “superbug” Candida auris are becoming a serious public health threat. The ability of these yeasts to cause disease is linked to their faculty to modulate the expression of genes that mediate their escape from the immune surveillance and their persistence in the different unfavorable niches within the host. Comprehensive knowledge on gene expression control of fungal fitness is consequently an interesting framework for the identification of essential infection processes that could be hindered by chemicals as potential therapeutics. Here, we expanded the use of ChEC-seq, a technique that was initially developed in the yeast model Saccharomyces cerevisiae to identify genes that are modulated by a transcriptional regulator, in pathogenic yeasts from the genus Candida . This robust technique will allow a better characterization of key gene expression regulators and their contribution to virulence and antifungal resistance in these pathogenic yeasts.