title: Candida albicans DBF4 gene inducibly duplicated by the mini-Ura-blaster is involved in hypha-suppression.
abstract: The opportunistic human fungal pathogen Candida albicans is a natural diploid that does not have a complete sexual cycle. The ability to switch between diverse cellular forms is important to its virulence. Here, we describe the characterization of the C. albicans DBF4 gene, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae homolog that encodes a regulatory subunit of Cdc7 kinase that is known to initiate DNA replication. We made a C. albicans strain, with one DBF4 allele deleted by the mini-Ura-blaster and the other controlled by a repressible promoter. We also found a third CaDBF4 copy that was later verified to be inducibly duplicated by targeted recombination with the min-Ura-blaster. Surprisingly, the strain deleted with the third CaDBF4 copy exhibited hyphal growth under repressed conditions. We conclude that the CaDBF4 gene is prone to being duplicated by the mini-Ura-blaster and that it suppresses hyphal growth in C. albicans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Tzu-Ling
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Jiun-Yuan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Yi-Ting
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ting-Hui
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Medical Research, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung City, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: jcs@csmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Jia-Ching
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Shieh
mesh_terms: D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020440:Gene Duplication; D006801:Humans; D025301:Hyphae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C068619:CDC7 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
keywords: DBF4; Hypha-suppression; Mini-Ura-blaster induced duplication