Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007-2197
Abstract
ABSTRACT
In a previous study, we reported the isolation and characterization of the two-component response regulator
SSK1
gene of
Candida albicans
. This gene is a structural but not a functional homolog of the
SSK1
and
mcs4
+
genes of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
and
Schizosaccharomyces pombe
, respectively. In the present study, we have constructed and phenotypically characterized Δ
ssk1
mutants of
C. albicans
. The results confirmed our previous observation that
CaSSK1
, unlike
SSK1
or
mcs4
+
, does not regulate cellular responses to either osmotic or oxidative stress. Instead, Δ
ssk1
null strains showed severely reduced hyphal formation on serum agar and were totally defective in hyphal development on other solid media, such as medium 199 (pH 7.5) and Spider medium. In contrast, under conditions of low nitrogen availability on solid media, Δ
ssk1
null strains dramatically hyperinvaded the agar. However, while forming germ tubes and hyphae in liquid media similar to those of the wild type, Δ
ssk1
null strains flocculated in a manner similar to that of Δ
chk1
two-component histidine kinase mutants, which we have previously described. Finally, virulence studies indicated that
SSK1
is essential for the pathogenesis of
C. albicans
, suggesting that the Ssk1p response regulator could be a good target for antifungal therapy.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
133 articles.
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