CaNdt80 Is Involved in Drug Resistance in Candida albicans by Regulating CDR1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Overexpression of CDR1 , an efflux pump, is one of the major mechanisms contributing to drug resistance in Candida albicans. CDR1 p-lacZ was constructed and transformed into a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain so that the lacZ gene could be used as the reporter to monitor the activity of the CDR1 promoter. Overexpression of CaNDT80 , the C. albicans homolog of S. cerevisiae NDT80 , increases the β-galactosidase activity of the CDR1 p-lacZ construct in S. cerevisiae . Furthermore, mutations in CaNDT80 abolish the induction of CDR1 expression by antifungal agents in C. albicans . Consistently, the Candt80 / Candt80 mutant is also more susceptible to antifungal drugs than the wild-type strain. Thus, the gene for CaNdt80 may be the first gene among the regulatory factors involved in drug resistance in C. albicans whose function has been identified.