Abstract

Structural studies of cell wall components of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans revealed a family of genes involved in beta-mannosyltransferase associated with the addition of beta-mannose to the acid-labile fraction of cell wall phosphopeptidomannan. Despite the importance of beta-1, 2-oligomannosides in virulence, the gene expression pattern of this family during hyphae transition have not been identified in C. albicans. We investigated using RT-qPCR whether genes encoding beta-1, 2-mannosylation of glycans and putative cell wall proteins are expressed during hyphae induction. Here, we identify four out of nine putative genes encoding beta-1, 2-mannosylation of glycans, BMT2, BMT4, BMT5, and BMT6 were downregulated during 30, 60, and 180 min of hyphae transition. We also observed that expression of Candida putative GPI-anchored protein coding genes PGA6, PGA19, PGA54, PGA56, PGA58, PGA59, and PGA13 were upregulated after 60 min of hyphae transition, while the levels of expression of these genes showed moderately changes during 15 and 180 min of hyphae transition. In either case, the involvement of these genes in hyphal growth makes them putative targets for new antifungal drugs aimed at inhibiting hyphae formation in C. albicans. © 2013 Springer-Verlag London.