title: System-level impact of mitochondria on fungal virulence: to metabolism and beyond.
abstract: The mitochondrion plays wide-ranging roles in eukaryotic cell physiology. In pathogenic fungi, this central metabolic organelle mediates a range of functions related to disease, from fitness of the pathogen to developmental and morphogenetic transitions to antifungal drug susceptibility. In this review, we present the latest findings in this area. We focus on likely mechanisms of mitochondrial impact on fungal virulence pathways through metabolism and stress responses, but also potentially via control over signaling pathways. We highlight fungal mitochondrial proteins that lack human homologs, and which could be inhibited as a novel approach to antifungal drug strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calderone
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University Clayton, 3800 VIC, Australia ana.traven@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Traven
mesh_terms: D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014774:Virulence
keywords: Candida albicans; fungal pathogenesis; mitochondria