Although Candida tropicalis has become an increasingly important human pathogen, little is known regarding its potential to cause disease. In this study we evaluated the phenotypic switching ability of C. tropicalis and analyzed the effect of switching on biological properties related to virulence factors. We demonstrated that C. tropicalis switched spontaneously, reversibly and at high frequen...

The dynamics of tumor cell populations is hotly debated: do populations derive hierarchically from a subpopulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs), or are stochastic transitions that mutate differentiated cancer cells to CSCs important? Here we argue that regulation must also be important. We sort human melanoma cells using three distinct cancer stem cell (CSC) markers - CXCR6, CD271 and ABCG2 - an...

The disease cryptococcosis, caused by the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, is acquired directly from environmental exposure rather than transmitted person-to-person. One explanation for the pathogenicity of this species is that interactions with environmental predators select for virulence. However, co-incubation of C. neoformans with amoeba can cause a "switch" from the normal yeast morphology ...

Staphylococcus aureus can undergo phenotypic switching between a normal colony phenotype (NCP) and a small colony variant (SCV). The SCV phenotype confers increased antibiotic resistance and the capacity to persist within human tissues and cells, and because these cells can revert back to the NCP they cause chronic and/or recurrent infections that are very difficult to treat. A complete picture...

Non-genetic phenotypic variations play a critical role in the adaption to environmental changes in microbial organisms. Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen, can switch between several morphological phenotypes. This ability is critical for its commensal lifestyle and for its ability to cause infections. Here, we report the discovery of a novel morphological form in C. albicans, refer...

The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans undergoes white-opaque phenotypic switching, which enhances its adaptation to host niches. Switching is controlled by a transcriptional regulatory network of interlocking feedback loops acting on the transcription of WOR1, the master regulator of white-opaque switching, but regulation of the network on the translational level is not yet explored. Here,...

The opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans can undergo phenotypic switching between a benign, unicellular phenotype and an invasive, multicellular form that causes candidiasis. Increasingly, strains of Candida are becoming resistant to antifungal drugs, making the treatment of candidiasis difficult, especially in immunocompromised or critically ill patients. Consequently, there is a pressing n...