Mating and virulence of Candida albicans
نویسندگان
چکیده
Recently, it was demonstrated that Candida albicans contains mating type genes. Since that discovery, it has been demonstrated that the majority of strains contain both a and genes, that a minority are homozygous for a or and can undergo fusion, and that the cytological stages of fusion and zygote development are similar to the stages of mating in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, it has recently been demonstrated that in order to mate, homozygous a and homozygous cells must undergo phenotypic switching from the white to opaque phase, adding a developmental step to mating that might be related to pathogenesis.
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Effects of ploidy and mating type on virulence of Candida albicans.
Candida albicans is the most common fungal pathogen of humans. The recent discovery of sexuality in this organism has led to the demonstration of a mating type locus which is usually heterozygous, although some isolates are homozygous. Tetraploids can be formed between homozygotes of the opposite mating type. However, the role of the mating process and tetraploid formation in virulence has not ...
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