Determining the origins of Candida auris from experimental, epidemiological and ecological investigations

真菌对人类健康的威胁越来越大。随着病原体进化出抗药性，人类的许多真菌疾病也变得越来越难以用抗真菌药物治疗。金黄色念珠菌最近成为一种人类的多重耐药病原体，会导致住院患者严重疾病。遗传学研究证实，奥里斯包括多达五个遗传分化的种群。然而，目前还不清楚奥里斯是在何时何地进化的，也不知道它在进入人类种群之前占据了什么样的生态位(S)。利用实验和系统发育相结合的方法，这个项目试图回答金龟子的进化起源。在鱼类中发现了与奥里斯最接近的近亲，这表明该分支可能是在水生环境中进化的，可能是其他鱼类的殖民者或病原体。此外，金龟子能够在非常高的温度和高盐浓度下生长。该项目将根据全基因组序列数据探索祖先和进化史，以及金枪鱼在卵子和胚胎上定居的能力：埃克塞特大学开发的一种新的实验系统，专注于一种自然存在于温暖的亚热带和热带浅水中的物种。

Fungi are a growing threat to the health of humans. Many fungal diseases of humans are also becoming increasingly difficult to treat with antifungals as pathogens evolve resistance. Candida auris has recently emerged as a multidrug-resistant pathogen of humans that causes severe illness in hospitalised patients. Genetic studies have confirmed C. auris includes as many as five genetically divergent populations. However, it is unknown when and where C. auris evolved, and what ecological niche(s) it occupied before 'spilling over' in to human populations. Using a combination of experimental and phylogenetic approaches, this project seeks to answer the evolutionary origins of C. auris. The closest relatives of C. auris have been found in fish, suggesting the clade may have evolved in an aquatic environment, possibly as a coloniser or pathogen of other fish. Furthermore, C. auris is able to grow at very high temperates and in high salt concentrations. The project will explore ancestral and evolutionary history from whole genome sequence data, as well as the ability of C. auris to colonise the eggs and embryos of Killifish: a new experimental system developed at the University of Exeter that focusses on a species naturally found in shallow warm subtropical and tropical waters.