title: Candida albicans Hom6 is a homoserine dehydrogenase involved in protein synthesis and cell adhesion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Candida albicans is a common fungal pathogen in humans. In healthy individuals, C. albicans represents a harmless commensal organism, but infections can be life threatening in immunocompromised patients. The complete genome sequence of C. albicans is extremely useful for identifying genes that may be potential drug targets and important for pathogenic virulence. However, there are still many uncharacterized genes in the Candida genome database. In this study, we investigated C. albicans Hom6, the functions of which remain undetermined experimentally.
  
  
  METHODS
  HOM6-deleted and HOM6-reintegrated mutant strains were constructed. The mutant strains were compared with wild-type in their growth in various media and enzyme activity. Effects of HOM6 deletion on translation were further investigated by cell susceptibility to hygromycin B or cycloheximide, as well as by polysome profiling, and cell adhesion to polystyrene was also determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C. albicans Hom6 exhibits homoserine dehydrogenase activity and is involved in the biosynthesis of methionine and threonine. HOM6 deletion caused translational arrest in cells grown under amino acid starvation conditions. Additionally, Hom6 protein was found in both cytosolic and cell-wall fractions of cultured cells. Furthermore, HOM6 deletion reduced C. albicans cell adhesion to polystyrene, which is a common plastic used in many medical devices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given that there is no Hom6 homologue in mammalian cells, our results provided an important foundation for future development of new antifungal drugs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Wen
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chu-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ying-Chieh
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Luh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsueh-Fen
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tien-Hsien
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Department of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Electronic address: cylan@life.nthu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chung-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D006715:Homoserine Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008715:Methionine / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011137:Polystyrenes; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013912:Threonine / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011137:Polystyrenes; D013912:Threonine; D008715:Methionine; D006715:Homoserine Dehydrogenase
keywords: Candida albicans; Hom6; cell adhesion; homoserine dehydrogenase; protein synthesis