Regulatory Circuits and Virulence in Candida albicans

描述(申请人描述)：白色念珠菌是一种 哺乳动物消化道中的共生有机体。它也是世界上最 人类常见的真菌病原体，可引起粘膜和全身感染， 尤其是在免疫功能受损的人群中。这项提案涵盖了三项研究 假丝酵母菌的不同方面，每一方面都与 发病机制。这些区域是：(1)花丝的显露气孔 形态转换，(2)一种快速产生多样性的机制，称为 “表型转换”和(3)对念珠菌生物学特性的调控 MTL基因座是与沙门氏菌MAT基因座密切相关的遗传基因座。 酿酒。该提案还包括两种方法的发展 念珠菌的大规模遗传筛选和微阵列分析 转录)，与标准分子生物学和 微生物技术将被用来解决这些问题。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description): The yeast Candida albicans is found as a commensal organism in the digestive tract of mammals. It is also the most common human fungal pathogen, causing both mucosal and systemic infections, particularly in immunocompromised people. This proposal covers studies of three different aspects of Candida, each of which has been implicated in pathogenesis. These areas are (1) the revesible blostopore to filament morphological transitions, (2) a mechanism to rapidly generate diversity called "phenotypic switching" and (3) the control of features of Candida biology by the MTL locus, a genetic locus closely related to the MAT locus of S. cerevisiae. The proposal also covers the development of two methodologies (large scale genetic screening and microarray analysis of Candida transcription), which, in combination with standard molecular biological and microbiological techniques, will be used to address these problems.