Regulatory Circuits and Virulence in Candida albicans

描述(申请人提供)：酵母菌白色念珠菌是人类消化道的正常居民。它也是人类最常见的真菌病原体，可引起黏膜和全身感染，特别是在免疫功能低下的患者中。这项提议试图了解白色念珠菌如何协调其与宿主的许多互动。我们的策略是通过解剖控制这些过程的转录电路来接近共生和致病的方面。我们的首要目标是了解白色念珠菌是如何在宿主的许多不同环境中茁壮成长和致病的。 与公共卫生相关：白色念珠菌是人类最常见的真菌病原体。它会在正常人身上引起表面感染，在免疫受损的人中引起危及生命的系统性感染。这项提议试图了解白色念珠菌如何调节其基因，使其能够在其人类宿主的许多环境中生存和繁殖。我们工作的一个重要组成部分是识别毒力基因，从长远来看，这将为新型抗真菌药物提供分子靶点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The yeast Candida albicans is a normal resident of the human digestive tract. It is also the most common fungal pathogen of humans, causing both mucosal and systemic infections, particularly in immune compromised patients. This proposal seeks to understand how C. albicans orchestrates its many interactions with the host. Our strategy is to approach aspects of commensalism and pathogenicity through dissection of the transcriptional circuitry that controls these processes. Our overarching goal is to understand how C. albicans is specialized to thrive and cause disease in many different environments of the host. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: C. albicans is the most prevalent fungal pathogen of humans. It causes superficial infections in normal humans and life threatening, systemic infections in immune compromised individuals. This proposal seeks to understand how C. albicans regulates its genes so it can survive and proliferate in many environments of its human host. An important component of our work is the identification of virulence genes which, in the long term, will provide molecular targets for new classes of antifungal drugs.