title: Dissection of the Candida albicans class I chitin synthase promoters.
abstract: Maintenance of the integrity of the cell wall in fungi is essential. One mechanism that cells use to maintain cell wall integrity in response to cell wall damage is to up-regulate chitin synthesis. In Candida albicans, the PKC cell wall integrity, Ca(2+)/calcineurin and high osmolarity glycerol (HOG) signalling pathways co-ordinately regulate chitin synthesis in response to cell wall stress. The transcription factors downstream of these pathways and their DNA binding sites within the promoters of target genes are well characterised in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but not in C. albicans. The promoters of the C. albicans class I CHS genes (CaCHS2 and CaCHS8) were functionally dissected with the aim of identifying and characterising the transcription factors and promoter elements that mediate the transcriptional up-regulation of CaCHS2 and CaCHS8 in response to cell wall stress. This analysis provided evidence that the PKC cell wall integrity pathway may operate through RLM1-elements in the CaCHS2 and CaCHS8 promoters, but that promoter sequences that respond to the Ca(2+)/calcineurin and HOG signalling pathways in S. cerevisiae did not directly regulate chitin synthase 2 and 8 gene transcription in C. albicans.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Megan D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lenardon
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lesiak
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Munro
authors.forename: Neil A R
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Gow
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology; D002687:Chitin Synthase / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D014157:Transcription Factors; D002687:Chitin Synthase