title: Fungal biofilm composition and opportunities in drug discovery.
abstract: Biofilm infections are exceptionally recalcitrant to antimicrobial treatment or clearance by host immune responses. Within biofilms, microbes form adherent multicellular communities that are embedded in an extracellular matrix. Many prescribed antifungal drugs are not effective against biofilm infections owing to several protective factors including poor diffusion of drugs through biofilms as well as specific drug-matrix interactions. Despite the key roles that biofilms play in infections, there is little quantitative information about their composition and structural complexity because of the analytical challenge of studying these dense networks using traditional techniques. Within this review, recent work to elucidate fungal biofilm composition is discussed, with particular attention given to the challenges of annotation and quantification of matrix composition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reichhardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.|California Institute for Medical Research, San Jose, CA 95128, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cegelski
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D055808:Drug Discovery; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents
keywords: Aspergillus; Candida; NMR; biofilm; efflux pumps; fungal; immunoassay; persister cells; solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance