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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.