title: Candida albicans mutant construction and characterization of selected virulence determinants.
abstract: Candida albicans is a diploid, polymorphic yeast, associated with humans, where it mostly causes no harm. However, under certain conditions it can cause infections ranging from superficial to life threatening. This ability to become pathogenic is often linked to the immune status of the host as well as the expression of certain virulence factors by the yeast. Due to the importance of C. albicans as a pathogen, determination of the molecular mechanisms that allow this yeast to cause disease is important. These studies rely on the ability of researchers to create deletion mutants of specific genes in order to study their function. This article provides a critical review of the important techniques used to create deletion mutants in C. albicans and highlights how these deletion mutants can be used to determine the role of genes in the expression of virulence factors in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, University of the Free State, South Africa.
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Motaung
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, University of the Free State, South Africa.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Albertyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, University of the Free State, South Africa. Electronic address: PohlCH@ufs.ac.za.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, College for Osteopathic Medicine, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, OK, USA.
authors.forename: Gerwald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Köhler
mesh_terms: D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D006801:Humans; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Candida albicans; Deletion mutant; Virulence factor