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Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity?
The commensal yeast Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen. In order to successfully colonize or infect the human body, the fungus must adapt to the host’s environmental conditions, such as low oxygen tension (hypoxia), temperature (37°C), and the different carbon sources available. Previous...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5986885/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29896215 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00166 |
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author | Bartelli, Thais F. Bruno, Danielle C. F. Briones, Marcelo R. S. |
author_facet | Bartelli, Thais F. Bruno, Danielle C. F. Briones, Marcelo R. S. |
author_sort | Bartelli, Thais F. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The commensal yeast Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen. In order to successfully colonize or infect the human body, the fungus must adapt to the host’s environmental conditions, such as low oxygen tension (hypoxia), temperature (37°C), and the different carbon sources available. Previous studies demonstrated the adaptive importance of C. albicans genetic variability for its pathogenicity, although the contributions of epigenetic and the influence of environmental factors are not fully understood. Mitochondria play important roles in fungal energetic metabolism, regulation of nuclear epigenetic mechanisms and pathogenicity. However, the specific impact of inter-strain mitochondrial genome variability and mitochondrial epigenetics in pathogenicity is unclear. Here, we draw attention to this relevant organelle and its potential role in C. albicans pathogenicity and provide preliminary evidence, for the first time, for methylation of the yeast mitochondrial genome. Our results indicate that environmental conditions, such as continuous exposure for 12 weeks to hypoxia and 37°C, decrease the mitochondrial genome methylation in strains SC5314 and L757. However, the methylation decrease is quantitatively different in specific genome positions when strains SC5314 and L757 are compared. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be promising for future research to understand how physical factors of the host affect the C. albicans mitochondrial genome and its possible impact on adaptation and pathogenicity. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5986885 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-59868852018-06-12 Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? Bartelli, Thais F. Bruno, Danielle C. F. Briones, Marcelo R. S. Front Genet Genetics The commensal yeast Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen. In order to successfully colonize or infect the human body, the fungus must adapt to the host’s environmental conditions, such as low oxygen tension (hypoxia), temperature (37°C), and the different carbon sources available. Previous studies demonstrated the adaptive importance of C. albicans genetic variability for its pathogenicity, although the contributions of epigenetic and the influence of environmental factors are not fully understood. Mitochondria play important roles in fungal energetic metabolism, regulation of nuclear epigenetic mechanisms and pathogenicity. However, the specific impact of inter-strain mitochondrial genome variability and mitochondrial epigenetics in pathogenicity is unclear. Here, we draw attention to this relevant organelle and its potential role in C. albicans pathogenicity and provide preliminary evidence, for the first time, for methylation of the yeast mitochondrial genome. Our results indicate that environmental conditions, such as continuous exposure for 12 weeks to hypoxia and 37°C, decrease the mitochondrial genome methylation in strains SC5314 and L757. However, the methylation decrease is quantitatively different in specific genome positions when strains SC5314 and L757 are compared. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be promising for future research to understand how physical factors of the host affect the C. albicans mitochondrial genome and its possible impact on adaptation and pathogenicity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-05-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5986885/ /pubmed/29896215 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00166 Text en Copyright © 2018 Bartelli, Bruno and Briones. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Genetics Bartelli, Thais F. Bruno, Danielle C. F. Briones, Marcelo R. S. Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title | Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title_full | Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title_fullStr | Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title_full_unstemmed | Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title_short | Evidence for Mitochondrial Genome Methylation in the Yeast Candida albicans: A Potential Novel Epigenetic Mechanism Affecting Adaptation and Pathogenicity? |
title_sort | evidence for mitochondrial genome methylation in the yeast candida albicans: a potential novel epigenetic mechanism affecting adaptation and pathogenicity? |
topic | Genetics |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5986885/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29896215 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00166 |
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