A yeast by any other name: Candida glabrata and its interaction with the host.

Well-characterized traits important to Candida albicans virulence, such as hyphal formation or secreted proteinase activity, play no known role in Candida glabrata virulence. Likewise, some C. glabrata characteristics, such as chromatin-based regulation of the large telomeric family of lectins encoded by the EPA (epithelial adhesin) genes, have no precise parallels in C. albicans. However, similarities between the two species, for example in population structure, in the large numbers of (putative) adhesins that they encode, and in phenotypic plasticity conferred by phenotypic switching, suggest that they share general strategies in adaptation to an opportunistic lifestyle.