Glucose depletion enables Candida albicans mating independently of the epigenetic white-opaque switch

Guobo Guan, Li Tao, Chao Li, Ming Xu, Ling Liu, Richard J. Bennett and Guanghua Huang ()
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Guobo Guan: Fudan University
Li Tao: Fudan University
Chao Li: Fudan University
Ming Xu: Fudan University
Ling Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Richard J. Bennett: Brown University
Guanghua Huang: Fudan University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans can switch stochastically and heritably between a “white” phase and an “opaque” phase. Opaque cells are the mating-competent form of the species, whereas white cells are thought to be essentially “sterile”. Here, we report that glucose depletion, a common nutrient stress, enables C. albicans white cells to undergo efficient sexual mating. The relative expression levels of pheromone-sensing and mating-associated genes (including STE2/3, MFA1, MFα1, FIG1, FUS1, and CEK1/2) are increased under glucose depletion conditions, while expression of mating repressors TEC1 and DIG1 is decreased. Cph1 and Tec1, factors that act downstream of the pheromone MAPK pathway, play opposite roles in regulating white cell mating as TEC1 deletion or CPH1 overexpression promotes white cell mating. Moreover, inactivation of the Cph1 repressor Dig1 increases white cell mating ~4000 fold in glucose-depleted medium relative to that in the presence of glucose. Our findings reveal that the white-to-opaque epigenetic switch may not be a prerequisite for sexual mating in C. albicans in nature.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37755-8

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