Cell surface associated secreted aspartic proteases (saps) of Candida albicans

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Candida albicans is considered a harmless commensal of mucosal surfaces of healthy individuals, but may cause superficial or even systemic infections. Secreted aspartic proteases (Saps) are among those attributes which contribute to pathogenicity. Our previous data showed that Sap9 and Sap10 are, in contrast to all other Saps, regulatory GPI-anchored proteases, localised on the cell surface, which target proteins of fungal origin involved in cell surface integrity, cell separation, adhesion and mucosal infection. These proteases seem to activate, inactivate, expose or mask surface molecules which play crucial roles for cell biology and hostfungus interactions. The aim of the next phase of this project is to elucidate the substrate specificities of Sap9 and Sap10, to identify protein targets of Sap9 and Sap10, to analyse the role of these protein targets and thus to elucidate the contributions of Sap9 and Sap10 for cellular biology and host-fungus interactions. This will be achieved using a combination of strategies, including biochemical, in silico, proteomic and molecular approaches.