2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
DYNAMIC EXPRESSION OF MORPHOGENESIS RELATED GENES FROM CANDIDA ALBICANS AND TIE ESTIMATION OF PATHOGENICITY USING GENETIC RECOMBINANTS
| Project/Area Number |
15590408
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Bacteriology (including Mycology)
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| Research Institution | Fukuoka Dental College |
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Principal Investigator |
CHO Tamaki Fukuoka Dental College, Dental School, Associate Professor, 歯学部, 助教授 (90131870)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
CHIBANA Hiroji Chiba University For Pathogenic Fungi, Research Center, Associate Professor, 医真菌センター, 助教授 (30333488)
OKAMURA Kazuhiko Fukuoka Dental College, Dental School, Associate Professor, 歯学部, 助教授 (00224056)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Keywords | Candida albicans / morphological transition / CGR1 / CaMSI3 / real-time RT-PCR / recombinant / cell density / disruptant |
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| Research Abstract |
Healthy individuals are colonized by Candida albicans, but the organism can act as an opportunistic pathogen in immuno-compromised hosts. The polymorphic growth of C. albicans is considered to be one of the virulence factors of the organism. Here, expression patterns of genes associated primarily with morphological transition under different environmental conditions were analyzed using real-time RT PCR. Moreover, using genetically-modified strains, the function of a specific gene during early stages of morphological transition (germination) was elucidated.
(i) By using real-time RT-PCR, we profiled the expression of CGR1, CaMSI3, NRG1, and TUP1 in C. albicans strains JCM9061 and CAI4 under several conditions, including induction of morphological transition, heat shock, and treatment with calcium inhibitors. Expression of CaMSI3 changed under these growth conditions except during heat shock. CGR1 expression increased during the early stages of hyphal growth in JCM9061, while expression was strain-depent during heat shock Both EFG1 and NRG1 were similarly expressed under hypha-inducing conditions and heat shock. Expression of TUP1 was slightly different from the expression of ERE or NRG1.
(ii) Mutants strains were constructed in which one allele of cgr1 was deleted. Expression of the second CGR1 allele was regulated by the was tetracycline-regulatable promoter, Germination of cgr1 disruptant at a low cell density was abolished in a germination medium. Therefore, we theorize that CGR1 may function at an early stage of germination that is regulated by quarum-sensing.
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