Congenic strains for genetic analysis of virulence traits in Cryptococcus gattii.
Congenic strains for genetic analysis of virulence traits in Cryptococcus gattii.
复制标题
用于格特隐球菌毒力性状遗传分析的同源菌株。
DOI：
10.1128/iai.00018-13
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Idnurm,Alexander
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zhu,Pinkuan;Zhai,Bing;Lin,Xiaorong;Idnurm,Alexander
Cryptococcus gattii is responsible for a large outbreak of potentially fatal disease that started in the late 1990s on Vancouver Island, Canada. How this fungus and the outbreak isolates in particular cause disease in immunocompetent people is unknown, with differing hypotheses. To explore genetic contributions, a pair of congenicaand α mating type strains was generated by a series of 11 backcrosses to introgress theMATlocus from a nonoutbreak strain into the background of strain R265, isolated from a Vancouver Island patient. The congenic pair was used to investigate three traits: mitochondrial inheritance, the effect of theMATalleles on virulence, and the impact of a predicted virulence factor on pathogenicity. The two congenic strains show the same virulence in different models of cryptococcosis and equivalent levels of competition in coinfection assays. These results rule out a role of theMATlocus and mitochondrial genotype as major virulence factors in the outbreak strains. Disruption of Bwc2, a light-dependent transcription factor, resulted in reduced virulence, consistent with a similar function in the related species Cryptococcus neoformans. The C. gattii congenic strains represent a new resource for exploring the evolution of virulence in the C. neoformans-C. gattii clade.
