A nuclear receptor-like pathway regulating multidrug resistance in fungi.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a serious complication during treatment of opportunistic fungal infections that frequently afflict immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients and cancer patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy. Improved knowledge of the molecular pathways controlling MDR in pathogenic fungi should facilitate the development of novel therapies to combat these intransigent infections. MDR is often caused by upregulation of drug efflux pumps by members of the fungal zinc-cluster transcription-factor family (for example Pdr1p orthologues). However, the molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show that Pdr1p family members in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the human pathogen Candida glabrata directly bind to structurally diverse drugs and xenobiotics, resulting in stimulated expression of drug efflux pumps and induction of MDR. Notably, this is mechanistically similar to regulation of MDR in vertebrates by the PXR nuclear receptor, revealing an unexpected functional analogy of fungal and metazoan regulators of MDR. We have also uncovered a critical and specific role of the Gal11p/MED15 subunit of the Mediator co-activator and its activator-targeted KIX domain in antifungal/xenobiotic-dependent regulation of MDR. This detailed mechanistic understanding of a fungal nuclear receptor-like gene regulatory pathway provides novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of multidrug-resistant fungal infections.

The role of mycelium production and a MAPK-mediated immune response in the C. elegans-Fusarium model system.

Fusariosis is an emerging infectious complication of immune deficiency, but models to study this infection are lacking. The use of the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model host to study the pathogenesis of Fusarium spp. was investigated. We observed that Fusarium conidia consumed by C. elegans can cause a lethal infection and result in more than 90% killing of the host within 120 hours, and the nematode had a significantly longer survival when challenged with Fusarium proliferatum compared to other species. Interestingly, mycelium production appears to be a major contributor in nematode killing in this model system, and C. elegans mutant strains with the immune response genes, tir-1 (encoding a protein containing a TIR domain that functions upstream of PMK-1) and pmk-1 (the homolog of the mammalian p38 MAPK) lived significantly shorter when challenged with Fusarium compared to the wild type strain. Furthermore, we used the C. elegans model to assess the efficacy and toxicity of various compounds against Fusarium. We demonstrated that amphotericin B, voriconazole, mancozeb, and phenyl mercury acetate significantly prolonged the survival of Fusarium-infected C. elegans, although mancozeb was toxic at higher concentrations. In conclusion, we describe a new model system for the study of Fusarium pathogenesis and evolutionarily preserved host responses to this important fungal pathogen.

The trehalose synthesis pathway is an integral part of the virulence composite for Cryptococcus gattii.

The trehalose pathway is essential for stress tolerance and virulence in fungi. We investigated the importance of this pathway for virulence of the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus gattii using the highly virulent Vancouver Island, Canada, outbreak strain R265. Three genes putatively involved in trehalose biosynthesis, TPS1 (trehalose-6-phosphate [T6P] synthase) and TPS2 (T6P phosphatase), and degradation, NTH1 (neutral trehalose), were deleted in this strain, creating the R265tps1 Delta, R265tps2 Delta, and R265nth1 Delta mutants. As in Cryptococcus neoformans, cellular trehalose was reduced in the R265tps1 Delta and R265tps2 Delta mutants, which could not grow and died, respectively, at 37 degrees C on yeast extract-peptone-dextrose agar, suggesting that T6P accumulation in R265tps2 Delta is directly toxic. Characterizations of the cryptococcal hexokinases and trehalose mutants support their linkage to the control of glycolysis in this species. However, unlike C. neoformans, the C. gattii R265tps1 Delta mutant demonstrated, in addition, defects in melanin and capsule production, supporting an influence of T6P on these virulence pathways. Attenuated virulence of the R265tps1 Delta mutant was not due solely to its 37 degrees C growth defect, as shown in worm studies and confirmed by suppressor mutants. Furthermore, an intact trehalose pathway controls protein secretion, mating, and cell wall integrity in C. gattii. Thus, the trehalose synthesis pathway plays a central role in the virulence composites of C. gattii through multiple mechanisms. Deletion of NTH1 had no effect on virulence, but inactivation of the synthesis genes, TPS1 and TPS2, has profound effects on survival of C. gattii in the invertebrate and mammalian hosts. These results highlight the central importance of this pathway in the virulence composites of both pathogenic cryptococcal species.

Antifungal chemical compounds identified using a C. elegans pathogenicity assay.

There is an urgent need for the development of new antifungal agents. A facile in vivo model that evaluates libraries of chemical compounds could solve some of the main obstacles in current antifungal discovery. We show that Candida albicans, as well as other Candida species, are ingested by Caenorhabditis elegans and establish a persistent lethal infection in the C. elegans intestinal track. Importantly, key components of Candida pathogenesis in mammals, such as filament formation, are also involved in nematode killing. We devised a Candida-mediated C. elegans assay that allows high-throughput in vivo screening of chemical libraries for antifungal activities, while synchronously screening against toxic compounds. The assay is performed in liquid media using standard 96-well plate technology and allows the study of C. albicans in non-planktonic form. A screen of 1,266 compounds with known pharmaceutical activities identified 15 (approximately 1.2%) that prolonged survival of C. albicans-infected nematodes and inhibited in vivo filamentation of C. albicans. Two compounds identified in the screen, caffeic acid phenethyl ester, a major active component of honeybee propolis, and the fluoroquinolone agent enoxacin exhibited antifungal activity in a murine model of candidiasis. The whole-animal C. elegans assay may help to study the molecular basis of C. albicans pathogenesis and identify antifungal compounds that most likely would not be identified by in vitro screens that target fungal growth. Compounds identified in the screen that affect the virulence of Candida in vivo can potentially be used as "probe compounds" and may have antifungal activity against other fungi.

Eca1, a sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase, is involved in stress tolerance and virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans.

The basidiomycetous fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans is adapted to survive challenges in the soil and environment and within the unique setting of the mammalian host. A C. neoformans mutant was isolated with enhanced virulence in a soil amoeba model that nevertheless exhibits dramatically reduced growth at mammalian body temperature (37 degrees C). This mutant phenotype results from an insertion in the ECA1 gene, which encodes a sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA)-type calcium pump. Infection in murine macrophages, amoebae (Acanthamoeba castellanii), nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans), and wax moth (Galleria mellonella) larvae revealed that the eca1 mutants are virulent or hypervirulent at permissive growth temperatures but attenuated at 37 degrees C. Deletion mutants lacking the entire ECA1 gene were also hypersensitive to the calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporin and FK506 and to ER and osmotic stresses. An eca1Delta cna1Delta mutant lacking both Eca1 and the calcineurin catalytic subunit was more sensitive to high temperature and ER stresses than the single mutants and exhibited reduced survival in C. elegans and attenuated virulence towards wax moth larvae at temperatures that permit normal growth in vitro. Eca1 is likely involved in maintaining ER function, thus contributing to stress tolerance and virulence acting in parallel with Ca2+-calcineurin signaling.

Loss of cell wall alpha(1-3) glucan affects Cryptococcus neoformans from ultrastructure to virulence.

Yeast cell walls are critical for maintaining cell integrity, particularly in the face of challenges such as growth in mammalian hosts. The pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans additionally anchors its polysaccharide capsule to the cell surface via alpha(1-3) glucan in the wall. Cryptococcal cells disrupted in their alpha glucan synthase gene were sensitive to stresses, including temperature, and showed difficulty dividing. These cells lacked surface capsule, although they continued to shed capsule material into the environment. Electron microscopy showed that the alpha glucan that is usually localized to the outer portion of the cell wall was absent, the outer region of the wall was highly disorganized, and the inner region was hypertrophic. Analysis of cell wall composition demonstrated complete loss of alpha glucan accompanied by a compensatory increase in chitin/chitosan and a redistribution of beta glucan between cell wall fractions. The mutants were unable to grow ina mouse model of infection, but caused death in nematodes. These studies integrate morphological and biochemical investigations of the role of alpha glucan in the cryptococcal cell wall.

Cryptococcus neoformans gene involved in mammalian pathogenesis identified by a Caenorhabditis elegans progeny-based approach.

Caenorhabditis elegans can serve as a substitute host for the study of microbial pathogenesis. We found that mutations in genes of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans involved in mammalian virulence allow C. elegans to produce greater numbers of progeny than when exposed to wild-type fungus. We used this property to screen a library of C. neoformans mutants for strains that permit larger C. elegans brood sizes. In this screen, we identified a gene homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae ROM2. C. neoformans rom2 mutation resulted in a defect in mating and growth defects at elevated temperature or in the presence of cell wall or hyperosmolar stresses. An effect of the C. neoformans rom2 mutation in virulence was confirmed in a murine inhalation infection model. We propose that a screen for progeny-permissive mutants of microorganisms can serve as a high-throughput method for identifying novel loci related to mammalian pathogenesis.