The WH11 gene of Candida albicans is regulated in two distinct developmental programs through the same transcription activation sequences

Candida albicans strain WO-1 undergoes two developmental programs, the bud-hypha transition and high-frequency phenotypic switching in the form of the white-opaque transition. The WH11 gene is expressed in the white budding phase but is inactive in the white hyphal phase and in the opaque budding phase. WH11 expression, therefore, is regulated in the two developmental programs. Through fusions between deletion derivatives of the WH11 promoter and the newly developed Renilla reniformis luciferase, the WH11 promoter has been characterized in the two developmental programs. Three transcription activation sequences, two strong and one weak, are necessary for the full expression of WH11 in the white budding phase, but no negative regulatory sequences were revealed as playing a role in either the white hyphal phase or the opaque budding phase. These results suggest that regulation is solely through activation in the white budding phase and the same mechanism, therefore, is involved in regulating the differential expression of WH11 in the alternative white and opaque phases of switching and the budding and hyphal phases of dimorphism.