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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Dgts Production As A Phosphate Starvation Response In The Human Fungal Pathogen Candida Albicans, Caleb Wehling Apr 2020

Dgts Production As A Phosphate Starvation Response In The Human Fungal Pathogen Candida Albicans, Caleb Wehling

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Betaine lipids are a class of membrane lipids with betaine head groups. Three betaine lipids are known - diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserine (DGTS), diacylglycerylhydroxymethylalanine (DGTA), and diacylglycerylcarboxymethylcholine (DGCC). Betaine lipids are most common in algae, although DGTS, the most common betaine lipid, is also found in many bacteria and fungi. Organisms which produce betaine lipids (especially DGTS) often don’t produce phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), and DGTS structure resembles PtdCho structure without any phosphorous, leading to the hypothesis that betaine lipids may substitute for phospholipids in some organisms. This has been confirmed by discoveries that some organisms are capable of switching their membrane composition from PtdCho …


Histone Acetylation Increases In Response To Ferulic, Gallic, And Sinapic Acids Acting Synergistically In Vitro To Inhibit Candida Albicans Yeast‐To‐Hyphae Transition, Cristiane R. S. Câmara, Qin-Yin Shi, Matthew Pedersen, Richard Zbasnik, Kenneth Nickerson, Vicki Schlegel Jan 2019

Histone Acetylation Increases In Response To Ferulic, Gallic, And Sinapic Acids Acting Synergistically In Vitro To Inhibit Candida Albicans Yeast‐To‐Hyphae Transition, Cristiane R. S. Câmara, Qin-Yin Shi, Matthew Pedersen, Richard Zbasnik, Kenneth Nickerson, Vicki Schlegel

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Novel treatments are needed to prevent candidiasis/candidemia infection due to the emergence of Candida species resistant to current antifungals. Considering the yeast-to‐hyphae switch is a critical factor to Candida albicans virulence, phenols common in plant sources have been reported to demonstrating their ability to prevent dimorphism. Therefore, phenols present in many agricultural waste stress (ferulic (FA) and gallic (GA) acid) were initially screened in isolation for their yeast‐to‐hyphae inhibitory properties at times 3, 6, and 24 hr. Both FA and GA inhibited 50% of hyphae formation inhibitory concentration (IC50) but at a concentration of 8.0 ± 0.09 and …


The Roles Of Biotin In Candida Albicans Physiology, Nur Ras Aini Ahmad Hussin Nov 2016

The Roles Of Biotin In Candida Albicans Physiology, Nur Ras Aini Ahmad Hussin

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Due to the increased number of immunocompromised patients, infections by Candida albicans have significantly increased in recent years. C. albicans transition from yeast to germ tubes is an essential factor for virulence. In this study we noted that Lee's medium, commonly used to induce filamentation, contained 500-fold more biotin than needed for growth. Thus, we investigated the effects of excess biotin on growth rate and filamentation by C. albicans in different media. At 37 °C, excess biotin (4 µM) enhanced germ tube formation (GTF) ca. 10-fold in both Lee's medium and a defined glucose proline medium, and ca. 4-fold in …


Physiological Studies On Candida Albicans, Swetha Tati Jul 2010

Physiological Studies On Candida Albicans, Swetha Tati

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Candida albicans is a common opportunistic, dimorphic human fungal pathogen. One of its virulence factors is the morphological switch between yeasts and hyphal or pseudohyphal forms, which can invade tissues and cause damage. Our studies focus on factors regulating pseudohyphae and epigenetic modifications of C. albicans. Regulating factors of pseudohyphae are aromatic alcohols and high phosphate. At low concentrations, exogenous aromatic alcohols induced pseudohyphae, as did high phosphate. For addressing the pathways involved in inducing pseudohyphae by aromatic alcohols or high phosphate, we used mutants defective in cAMP dependent PKA pathway (efg1/efg1), MAP kinase pathway (cph1/cph1), or both (cph1/cph1/efg1/efg1). …


Farnesol Signaling In Candida Albicans, Melanie L. Langford Apr 2010

Farnesol Signaling In Candida Albicans, Melanie L. Langford

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Candida albicans is a polymorphic fungus that causes a range of disease in humans, from mucosal infections to systemic disease. Its ability to cause disease is linked to conversion between yeast and filamentous forms of growth, and the first quorum-sensing molecule discovered in an eukaryote, farnesol, blocks this transition. In C. albicans, farnesol also kills mating-competent opaque cells, inhibits biofilm formation, protects the cells from oxidative stress, and can be a virulence factor or protective agent in disseminated and mucosal mouse models of infection, respectively. While much emphasis has been placed on determining its effect on C. albicans morphology, …


Candida Albicans Cellwall Components And Farnesol Stimulate The Expression Of Both Inflammatory And Regulatory Cytokines In The Murine Raw264.7 Macrophage Cell Line, Suman Ghosh, Nina Howe, Katie Volk, Swetha Tati, Kenneth W. Nickerson, Thomas M. Petro Jan 2010

Candida Albicans Cellwall Components And Farnesol Stimulate The Expression Of Both Inflammatory And Regulatory Cytokines In The Murine Raw264.7 Macrophage Cell Line, Suman Ghosh, Nina Howe, Katie Volk, Swetha Tati, Kenneth W. Nickerson, Thomas M. Petro

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Candida albicans causes candidiasis, secretes farnesol, and switches from yeast to hyphae to escape from macrophages after phagocytosis. However, before escape, macrophages may respond to C. albicans’ pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) through toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and dectin-1 receptors by expressing cytokines involved in adaptive immunity, inflammation, and immune regulation. Therefore, macrophages and the RAW264.7 macrophage line were challenged with C. albicans preparations of live wild-type cells, heat-killed cells, a live mutant defective in hyphae formation, a live mutant producing less farnesol, or an isolate producing farnesoic acid instead of farnesol. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-1b, IL- 10, and tumor …


Farnesol Restores Wild-Type Colony Morphology To 96% Of Candida Albicans Colony Morphology Variants Recovered Following Treatment With Mutagens, Ellen C. Jensen, Jacob M. Hornby, Nicole E. Pagliaccetti, Chuleeon M. Wolter, Kenneth Nickerson, Audrey L. Atkin Apr 2006

Farnesol Restores Wild-Type Colony Morphology To 96% Of Candida Albicans Colony Morphology Variants Recovered Following Treatment With Mutagens, Ellen C. Jensen, Jacob M. Hornby, Nicole E. Pagliaccetti, Chuleeon M. Wolter, Kenneth Nickerson, Audrey L. Atkin

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that undergoes a morphological transition between budding yeast, hyphal, and pseudohyphal forms. The morphological transition is strongly correlated with virulence and is regulated in part by quorum sensing. Candida albicans produces and secretes farnesol that regulates the yeast to mycelia morphological transition. Mutants that fail to synthesize or respond to farnesol could be locked in the filamentous mode. To test this hypothesis, a collection of C. albicans mutants were isolated that have altered colony morphologies indicative of the presence of hyphal cells under environmental conditions where C. albicans normally grows only as yeasts. All …


High Phosphate (Up To 600 Mm) Induces Pseudohyphal Development In Five Wild Type Candida Albicans, Jacob M. Hornby, Raluca Dumitru, Kenneth Nickerson Jan 2004

High Phosphate (Up To 600 Mm) Induces Pseudohyphal Development In Five Wild Type Candida Albicans, Jacob M. Hornby, Raluca Dumitru, Kenneth Nickerson

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

A method is described for the formation of nearly 100% pseudohyphae populations of wild-type Candida albicans A72. The method employs fungal growth at 37 °C (ca. 5×106 cells/ml) in a glucose–proline–N-acetyl-glucosamine medium supplemented with up to 600 mM phosphate (KH2PO4/K2HPO4 1:1) at pH 6.5. Four other strains of C. albicans (MEN, 10261, SG5314 and CAI-4) also formed pseudohyphae under these conditions, although the phosphate response profiles differed in the concentration required for each strain to form pseudohyphae.