Translational Regulation Promotes Oxidative Stress Resistance in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans is one of the few environmental fungi that can survive within a mammalian host and cause disease. Although many of the factors responsible for establishing virulence have been recognized, how they are expressed in response to certain host-derived cellular stresses is rarely addressed. Here, we characterize the temporal translational response of C. neoformans to oxidative stress. We find that translation is largely inhibited through the phosphorylation of the critical initiation factor eIF2α (α subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2) by a sole kinase. Preventing eIF2α-mediated translational suppression resulted in growth sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). Our work suggests that translational repression in response to H(2)O(2) partly facilitates oxidative stress adaptation by accelerating the decay of abundant non-stress-related transcripts while facilitating the proper expression levels of select oxidative stress response factors. Our results illustrate translational suppression as a critical determinant of select mRNA decay, gene expression, and subsequent survival in response to oxidative stress.