Abstract
Fungal pathogens are more commonly associated with morbidity and mortality than generally appreciated. In fact, a significant portion of the world population is infected by fungi, and an estimated 1.5 million people die from life-threatening fungal infections each year [1]. One of the most common fungal pathogens of humans is Candida albicans. The majority of the human population is colonised with this fungus, and superficial infections of mucosal surfaces are extremely common [2].
The morphological plasticity of C. albicans has long been implicated in the virulence of this pathogen [3]. The two most important morphologies, yeast and hyphal cells, are both required for virulence. Neither yeast-locked strains nor hyperfilamentous mutants are fully virulent in experimental systemic infections. However, it is generally accepted that each of the two forms fulfils specific functions during infection. While the yeast form is likely important for dissemination via the blood stream, the formation of filamentous hyphae contributes to adhesion and invasion of host cells.
The morphological plasticity of C. albicans has long been implicated in the virulence of this pathogen [3]. The two most important morphologies, yeast and hyphal cells, are both required for virulence. Neither yeast-locked strains nor hyperfilamentous mutants are fully virulent in experimental systemic infections. However, it is generally accepted that each of the two forms fulfils specific functions during infection. While the yeast form is likely important for dissemination via the blood stream, the formation of filamentous hyphae contributes to adhesion and invasion of host cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e1005867 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-5 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | PLoS Pathogens |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding: Our own work was funded by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (102549/Z/13/Z), a Wellcome Trust ISSF (RG12723-14), the MRC and University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1) (DW); Medical Research Council (MR/J008303/1, MR/M011372/1), Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J015261/1), FP7-PEOPLE-2013-Initial Training Network (606786) (JRN); Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377/Z/11/Z) (JRN and DW); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft CRC/TR124 FungiNet Project C1 and SPP 1580 (Hu 528/17-1) and CSCC, German Federal Ministry of Education and Health [BMBF] 01EO1002 (BH). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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- The Missing Link between Candida albicans Hyphal Morphogenesis and Host Cell Damage
Copyright: © 2016 Wilson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/