title: Effects of ploidy and mating type on virulence of Candida albicans.
abstract: Candida albicans is the most common fungal pathogen of humans. The recent discovery of sexuality in this organism has led to the demonstration of a mating type locus which is usually heterozygous, although some isolates are homozygous. Tetraploids can be formed between homozygotes of the opposite mating type. However, the role of the mating process and tetraploid formation in virulence has not been investigated. We describe here experiments using a murine model of disseminated candidiasis which demonstrate that in three strains, including CAI-4, the most commonly used strain background, tetraploids are less virulent than diploids and can undergo changes in ploidy during infection. In contrast to reports with other strains, we find that MTL homozygotes are almost as virulent as the heterozygotes. These results show that the level of ploidy in Candida albicans can affect virulence, but the mating type configuration does not necessarily do so.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, 320 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Ashraf S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Magee
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sheppard
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kauffman
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Magee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011003:Ploidies; D011123:Polyploidy; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins