Environmental Sensing and Signal Transduction Pathways Regulating Morphopathogenic Determinants of Candida Albicans

Overview

Journal Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2007 Jun 8

PMID 17554048

Citations 268

Authors

Subhrajit Biswas

Patrick Van Dijck

Asis Datta

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that is found in the normal gastrointestinal flora of most healthy humans. However, under certain environmental conditions, it can become a life-threatening pathogen. The shift from commensal organism to pathogen is often correlated with the capacity to undergo morphogenesis. Indeed, under certain conditions, including growth at ambient temperature, the presence of serum or N-acetylglucosamine, neutral pH, and nutrient starvation, C. albicans can undergo reversible transitions from the yeast form to the mycelial form. This morphological plasticity reflects the interplay of various signal transduction pathways, either stimulating or repressing hyphal formation. In this review, we provide an overview of the different sensing and signaling pathways involved in the morphogenesis and pathogenesis of C. albicans. Where appropriate, we compare the analogous pathways/genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in an attempt to highlight the evolution of the different components of the two organisms. The downstream components of these pathways, some of which may be interesting antifungal targets, are also discussed.

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