title: Candida albicans Dbf4-dependent Cdc7 kinase plays a novel role in the inhibition of hyphal development.
abstract: Candida albicans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen. The ability to switch among multiple cellular forms is key to its pathogenesis. The Dbf4-dependent protein kinase gene CDC7 is conserved due to its role in initiating DNA replication. Because a C. albicans Cdc7 (Cacdc7) homozygous null was not viable, we generated a C. albicans strain with a deleted C. albicans CDC7 (CaCDC7) allele and an expression-repressible allele. Surprisingly, cells of the strain grew as hyphae under the repressed conditions. The in vitro kinase assays confirmed that CaCdc7 (K232) and CaCdc7 (T437) are critical for catalytic and phosphoacceptor of activation activity, respectively. C. albicans cells formed hyphae when expressing either the catalytically inactive CaCdc7 (K232R) or the phosphoacceptor-deficient CaCdc7 (T437A). While CaCdc7 interacted with CaDbf4, cells of the strain in which CaCDC7 was repressed were not rescued by constitutively expressing C. albicans DBF4 or vice versa. We conclude that CaDBF4-dependent CaCDC7 is an essential gene suppressing the hyphal development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Chung
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tschen-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chang Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shu-Ya
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Da-Yah University, Changhua County, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tai-Lin
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wan Chen
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu-Che
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Department of Medical Research, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jia-Ching
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Shieh
mesh_terms: D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D025301:Hyphae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins