Candida albicans Pde1p and Gpa2p comprise a regulatory module mediating agonist-induced cAMP signalling and environmental adaptation

Duncan Wilson, Alessandro Fiori, Katrijn De Brucker, Patrick Van Dijck, Lubomira Stateva

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Deletion of PDE2, but not of PDE1 has been shown to reduce invasion and virulence. However simultaneous deletion of PDE2 and PDE1 abolishes these processes completely, suggesting that although Pde1 has a secondary role it also contributes to virulence in Candida albicans. In the present study the roles of the two phosphodiesterases, as well as that of Gpa2, in agonist-induced cAMP signalling, growth, morphogenesis and response to some stresses have been investigated. Our biochemical evidence shows that Gpa2 stimulates cAMP signalling in response to intracellular acidification and that Pde1, but not Pde2, is responsible for down-regulation of cAMP signalling induced by glucose addition or intracellular acidification. Furthermore, the genetic interactions of PDE1 and in some cases PDE2, with GPA2 caused synthetic defects in growth, morphogenesis and responses to some stresses, suggesting that Gpa2 mediates its effects on these processes in a cAMP pathway-independent manner. Remarkably, the synthetic interactions involving PDE1, PDE2 and GPA2 are not observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggesting that conserved components of the cAMP pathway are used for different purposes in different yeast species. We suggest that cAMP phosphodiesterases have species-specific differential roles, which make them attractive antifungal targets, for combinatorial treatment.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)742-752
Number of pages11
JournalFungal Genetics and Biology
Volume47
Issue number9
Early online date15 Jun 2010
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2010

Bibliographical note

2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • adaptation, physiological
  • Candida albicans
  • cyclic AMP
  • cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, type 1
  • down-regulation
  • fungal proteins
  • GTP-binding protein alpha subunits
  • gene expression regulation, fungal
  • glucose
  • signal transduction

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Candida albicans Pde1p and Gpa2p comprise a regulatory module mediating agonist-induced cAMP signalling and environmental adaptation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this