title: The birth of a deadly yeast: tracing the evolutionary emergence of virulence traits in Candida glabrata.
abstract: The yeast Candida glabrata is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen whose incidence has increased in the last two decades. Despite its name, this yeast is only distantly related to the model fungal pathogen C. albicans, and more closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts that underwent an ancient whole-genome duplication. Understanding what specific traits make C. glabrata a successful opportunistic pathogen within a clade of mostly innocuous yeasts, and how these compare to virulence traits in distant pathogens such as C. albicans is a focus of intense research. From an evolutionary perspective, uncovering how the ability to infect humans has emerged multiple, independent times in different lineages may reveal new disease mechanisms and provide us with the capacity to predict which genomic features in a clade may confer a higher potential to develop virulence against humans.
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain tgabaldon@crg.es.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gabaldón
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Laia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carreté
mesh_terms: D041221:Candida glabrata / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Candida; Candida glabrata; Nakaseomyces; evolution; virulence