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Phenotypic Transitions and Their Regulatory Mechanisms in the Human Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans
Pan Lina1#, Cao Chengjun2#, Wei Yujia2*, Huang Guanghua2*
1Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang 550004, China;
2State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
2State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Abstract: Candida albicans is a common commensal of healthy people and an opportunistic fungal pathogen. A striking biological feature of this fungus is its morphological plasticity. C. albicans can switch among a number of morphological phenotypes. Yeast-filamentous growth and white-opaque transitions are the two typical phenotypic switching systems. As a survival and adaptive strategy of C. albicans， phenotypic transitions are involved in the regulation of colonization， virulence， and sexual reproduction. A number of host-related environmental factors and genetic regulators have been proven to be involved in the regulation of phenotypic transitions in C. albicans. In this review， we will focus on the regulatory mechanisms of phenotypic transitions in this pathogenic organism.
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