TY - JOUR
T1 - N-acetylglucosamine induces white to opaque switching, a mating prerequisite in Candida albicans
AU - Huang, Guanghua
AU - Yi, Song
AU - Sahni, Nidhi
AU - Daniels, Karla J.
AU - Srikantha, Thyagarajan
AU - Soll, David R.
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - To mate, the fungal pathogen Candida albicans must undergo homozygosis at the mating-type locus and then switch from the white to opaque phenotype. Paradoxically, opaque cells were found to be unstable at physiological temperature, suggesting that mating had little chance of occurring in the host, the main niche of C. albicans. Recently, however, it was demonstrated that high levels of CO2, equivalent to those found in the host gastrointestinal tract and select tissues, induced the white to opaque switch at physiological temperature, providing a possible resolution to the paradox. Here, we demonstrate that a second signal, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a monosaccharide produced primarily by gastrointestinal tract bacteria, also serves as a potent inducer of white to opaque switching and functions primarily through the Ras1/cAMP pathway and phosphorylated Wor1, the gene product of the master switch locus. Our results therefore suggest that signals produced by bacterial co-members of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota regulate switching and therefore mating of C. albicans.
AB - To mate, the fungal pathogen Candida albicans must undergo homozygosis at the mating-type locus and then switch from the white to opaque phenotype. Paradoxically, opaque cells were found to be unstable at physiological temperature, suggesting that mating had little chance of occurring in the host, the main niche of C. albicans. Recently, however, it was demonstrated that high levels of CO2, equivalent to those found in the host gastrointestinal tract and select tissues, induced the white to opaque switch at physiological temperature, providing a possible resolution to the paradox. Here, we demonstrate that a second signal, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a monosaccharide produced primarily by gastrointestinal tract bacteria, also serves as a potent inducer of white to opaque switching and functions primarily through the Ras1/cAMP pathway and phosphorylated Wor1, the gene product of the master switch locus. Our results therefore suggest that signals produced by bacterial co-members of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota regulate switching and therefore mating of C. albicans.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77950456763&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000806
DO - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000806
M3 - Article
C2 - 20300604
AN - SCOPUS:77950456763
SN - 1553-7366
VL - 6
JO - PLoS pathogens
JF - PLoS pathogens
IS - 3
M1 - e1000806
ER -