Analysis of base excision and nucleotide excision repair in Candida albicans.
Candida albicans, clinically the most important human fungal pathogen, rapidly develops resistance to antifungal drugs. The acquisition of resistance has been linked to various types of genome changes. As part of an ongoing study of this problem, we investigated mutation, genome stability and drug resistance acquisition in C. albicans strains with deletions in the base excision repair (BER) genes NTG1, APN1 and OGG1, and in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) genes RAD2 and RAD10. The BER mutants did not exhibit any change in their susceptibility to DNA-damaging agents, but the NER mutants were extremely sensitive to UV-induced DNA damage. We did not observe any significant change in mutation, genome stability and antifungal drug sensitivity in the mutant strains we tested. However, we detected a number of intriguing phenotypic differences between strains bearing deletions in equivalent C. albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae BER and NER genes, which may be related to differences in the life cycles of these two fungi.
Legrand
Melanie
M
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Chan
Christine L
CL
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Jauert
Peter A
PA
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Kirkpatrick
David T
DT
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D043171:Chromosomal Instability; D004260:DNA Repair; D045643:DNA Repair Enzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009153:Mutagens / Q000494:pharmacology; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D009153:Mutagens; D045643:DNA Repair Enzymes