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PMID: 12374745 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Gcn4 co-ordinates morphogenetic and metabolic responses to amino acid starvation in Candida albicans.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 21 ·No. 20 ·2002-10-15 ·Pages 5448-56

Tripathi G, Wiltshire C, Macaskill S, Tournu H, Budge S, Brown AJ

Abstract

Candida albicans is a major fungal pathogen of humans. It regulates its morphology in response to various environmental signals, but many of these signals are poorly defined. We show that amino acid starvation induces filamentous growth in C.albicans. Also, starvation for a single amino acid (histidine) induces CaHIS4, CaHIS7, CaARO4, CaLYS1 and CaLYS2 gene expression in a manner reminiscent of the GCN response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These morphogenetic and GCN-like responses are both dependent upon CaGcn4, which is a functional homologue of S.cerevisiae Gcn4. Like ScGcn4, CaGcn4 activates the transcription of amino acid biosynthetic genes via the GCRE element, and CaGcn4 confers resistance to the histidine analogue, 3-aminotriazole. CaGcn4 interacts with the Ras-cAMP pathway to promote filamentous growth, but the GCN-like response is not dependent upon morphogenetic signalling. CaGcn4 acts as a global regulator in C.albicans, co-ordinating both metabolic and morphogenetic responses to amino acid starvation.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Amino Acids/metabolism Base Sequence Candida albicans/genetics,growth & development,metabolism Culture Media DNA, Fungal/genetics DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,metabolism Fungal Proteins/genetics,metabolism Genes, Fungal Histidine/metabolism Models, Biological Molecular Sequence Data Protein Kinases/genetics,metabolism Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics,growth & development,metabolism Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics,metabolism Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Signal Transduction Species Specificity Transcription Factors/genetics,metabolism Transcriptional Activation
Chemicals
Amino Acids Culture Media DNA, Fungal DNA-Binding Proteins EFG1 protein, Candida albicans Fungal Proteins Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins Transcription Factors Histidine Protein Kinases
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Tripathi Gyanendra
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK.
Wiltshire Carolyn
Macaskill Susan
Tournu Helene
Budge Susan
Brown Alistair J P
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
DOI
10.1093/emboj/cdf507
Published
2002-10-15
Pages
5448-56
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC129063
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1093/emboj/cdf507 PMC Full Text View journal details
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