Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
4-1-2024
Journal
Molecular Microbiology
Abstract
Adhesion to mucosal surfaces is a critical step in many bacterial and fungal infections. Here, using a mouse model of oral infection by the human fungal pathobiont Candida albicans, we report the identification of a novel regulator of C. albicans adhesion to the oral mucosa. The regulator is a member of the regulatory factor X (RFX) family of transcription factors, which control cellular processes ranging from genome integrity in model yeasts to tissue differentiation in vertebrates. Mice infected with the C. albicans rfx1 deletion mutant displayed increased fungal burden in tongues compared to animals infected with the reference strain. High-resolution imaging revealed RFX1 transcripts being expressed by C. albicans cells during infection. Concomitant with the increase in fungal burden, the rfx1 mutant elicited an enhanced innate immune response. Transcriptome analyses uncovered HWP1, a gene encoding an adhesion protein that mediates covalent attachment to buccal cells, as a major RFX1-regulated locus. Consistent with this result, we establish that C. albicans adhesion to oral cells is modulated by RFX1 in an HWP1-dependent manner. Our findings expand the repertoire of biological processes controlled by the RFX family and illustrate a mechanism whereby C. albicans can adjust adhesion to the oral epithelium.
Keywords
Animals, Humans, Candida albicans, Epithelium, Fungal Proteins, Mouth Mucosa, Regulatory Factor X1, Candida albicans, host-pathogen interactions, gene regulation, adhesion
DOI
10.1111/mmi.15219
PMID
38183361
PMCID
PMC11023810
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
4-1-2025
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Author MSS
Published Open-Access
yes