title: Deletion of the CAP10 gene of Cryptococcus neoformans results in a pleiotropic phenotype with changes in expression of virulence factors.
abstract: The human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans causes meningo-encephalitis. The polysaccharide capsule is an important virulence factor for this yeast-like fungus. Previously, we had shown that disruption of the CAP10 gene, encoding a putative xylosyltransferase, results in mutant cells that lack most of the capsular polysaccharides on the cell surface, but do not show a typical acapsular phenotype. In contrast to the acapsular cap59 mutant, cap10 did not induce maturation of dendritic cells when exposed to components of the immune system. In order to gain further insight into the causes of this phenotype displayed by the cap10 mutant, we performed a more in-depth phenotypic analysis of the cell wall and surface structures of this mutant compared to the wild type strain and acapsular mutant cap59. Moreover, we analyzed the cap10 mutant and the wild type strain for differential gene expression of, amongst others, enzymes that are involved in biogenesis of cell wall and capsule components. We conclude that a mutation in the CAP10 gene results in a pleiotropic phenotype with effects on different cellular processes affecting, amongst others, cell size, expression of virulence factors and size of extracellular vesicles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU University Medical Center, van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: b.tefsen@im.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tefsen
authors.affiliation: Microbiology, Institute of Biomembranes, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: jgrijpst@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grijpstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU University Medical Center, van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Microbiology, Institute of Biomembranes, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: S.R.OrdonezAlvarez@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Soledad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ordonez
authors.affiliation: Microbiology, Institute of Biomembranes, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: mennolammers@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Menno
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lammers
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU University Medical Center, van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: im.vandie@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van Die
authors.affiliation: Microbiology, Institute of Biomembranes, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.decock@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Cock
mesh_terms: D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D055354:Exosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D058685:Genetic Pleiotropy; D010641:Phenotype; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: C121601:CAP10 protein, Cryptococcus neoformans; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Acid phosphatase; Capsule; Cryptococcus; Laccase; Polysaccharide; Virulence