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SPECIALITY
process, helping cells interpret and/or and Zhao took a closer look at
8 respond to what is happening in the various aspects of C. albicans’
external world, she says. biology. Among other findings, the
more pseudohyphae even as the scientists showed that the Sir2
formation of true hyphae declined. “From our perspective, what’s protein is localized in the nucleus of
important is that in either condition C. albicans’ cells, and that removing
More research is needed to -- nutrient-rich or nutrient-poor -- not the Sir2 gene from C. albicans led to
understand why, exactly, this might having the Sir2 gene changed the a decrease in the activity of certain
happen, but, “Clearly, the nutrient balance, which implies that the signal genes that are usually highly active
environment changes the behavior the Sir2 protein is transmitting is in hyphal cells.
of the cells,” says Rusche, PhD, UB an important part of the equation,”
associate professor of biological Rusche says. “Cells are integrating a The researchers also concluded that
sciences. lot of information to ‘decide’ what form one of the Sir2 protein’s key functions
to take. Knowing more about what -- removing an acetyl group from
Rusche explains that different triggers the choice could allow us to other proteins -- is likely involved in
cues in the environment -- such modulate it in the future. If you can facilitating the transition to hyphae. In
as the availability of nutrients and reduce Candida albicans’ ability to experiments, disrupting this process
temperature -- influence whether generate the filamentous form, maybe of deacetylation resulted in fewer true
C. albicans takes on a yeast or you can make it less infectious.” hyphae being formed.
filamentous form. Sir2, which
belongs to a family of proteins To learn more about how Sir2 might “Sir2 is a protein that I’ve been
called sirtuins, may impact this impact hyphal formation, Rusche studying for 20 years, so it’s been
at the center of my research for a
long time,” Rusche says. “We’ve
been interested in how it has
different functions in different
species. We decided it would
be interesting to look at the Sir2
protein in Candida albicans
because it has medical relevance,
and we wanted to see what our
knowledge about this protein can
help us learn about the pathogen.”
“I’m interested in pathogenic
species,” Zhao says. “The Sir2
protein seems to have this effect in
the morphological transition between
yeast and hyphal form. We think
that this transition may impact the
virulence of this human pathogen, so
that’s very important.”
The research was supported by a pilot
project award from the UB Genome,
Environment and Microbiome
Community of Excellence.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University at
Buffalo. Original written by Charlotte
Hsu. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.
Journal Reference:
1. Guolei Zhao, Laura N. Rusche.
Genetic Analysis of Sirtuin
Deacetylases in Hyphal Growth of
Candida albicans. mSphere, 2021
Candida albicans visualized by Gram stain and microscopy. Note the hyphae
and chlamydospores, which are 2–4 µm in diameter. DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00053-21
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