Nonsense and missense mutations in FCY2 and FCY1 genes are responsible for flucytosine resistance and flucytosine-fluconazole cross-resistance in clinical isolates of Candida lusitaniae.
The aim of this work was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of flucytosine (5FC) resistance and 5FC/fluconazole (FLC) cross-resistance in 11 genetically and epidemiologically unrelated clinical isolates of Candida lusitaniae. We first showed that the levels of transcription of the FCY2 gene encoding purine-cytosine permease (PCP) in the isolates were similar to that in the wild-type strain, 6936. Nucleotide sequencing of the FCY2 alleles revealed that 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistance could be correlated with a cytosine-to-thymine substitution at nucleotide 505 in the fcy2 genes of seven clinical isolates, resulting in a nonsense mutation and in a putative nonfunctional truncated PCP of 168 amino acids. Reintroducing a FCY2 wild-type allele at the fcy2 locus of a ura3 auxotrophic strain derived from the clinical isolate CL38 fcy2(C505T) restored levels of susceptibility to antifungals comparable to those of the wild-type strains. In the remaining four isolates, a polymorphic nucleotide was found in FCY1 where the nucleotide substitution T26C resulted in the amino acid replacement M9T in cytosine deaminase. Introducing this mutated allele into a 5FC- and 5FC/FLC-resistant fcy1Delta strain failed to restore antifungal susceptibility, while susceptibility was obtained by introducing a wild-type FCY1 allele. We thus found a correlation between the fcy1 T26C mutation and both 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistances. We demonstrated that only two genetic events occurred in 11 unrelated clinical isolates of C. lusitaniae to support 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistance: either the nonsense mutation C505T in the fcy2 gene or the missense mutation T26C in the fcy1 gene.
EA209 Eucaryotes Pathogènes, Transports Membranaires et Chimiorésistances, UFR des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université Paris Descartes, 4 Avenue de l'Observatoire, Paris, France.
Martine
M
Florent
Thierry
T
Noël
Gwenaël
G
Ruprich-Robert
Bruno
B
Da Silva
Valérie
V
Fitton-Ouhabi
Christiane
C
Chastin
Nicolas
N
Papon
Florence
F
Chapeland-Leclerc
D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology*; D018389:Codon, Nonsense / Q000235:genetics*; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D015725:Fluconazole / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005437:Flucytosine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D020125:Mutation, Missense / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D015725:Fluconazole; D005437:Flucytosine