Pathogenicity of Candida albicans auxotrophic mutants in experimental infections

Abstract

Auxotrophic and prototrophic control strain pairs of Candida albicans constructed by molecular biology methodologies were evaluated for pathogenicity in a systemic mouse model. Mutants that were auxotrophic for adenine, uracil, and heme each showed a lowered level of pathogenicity relative to control strains. It can be concluded from these experiments that decreased pathogenicity in each case is due to the auxotrophic mutation, because mutant and control strains were constructed so as to differ at a single locus. These observations suggest that new therapeutic agents for Candida infections might be designed based upon the inhibition of biosynthetic pathways that, in some cases, might be absent from the host.