Abstract

Genetic association of mating types and virulence for mice were found in Cryptococcus neoformans. A pair of congenic Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans strains, B-4476 (a) and B-4500 (alpha) that presumably only differ in mating type, was constructed. This pair and their progeny, five alpha type and five a type, were tested for virulence in mice. In the parent strains as well as the progeny, alpha type was clearly more virulent than a type. In addition, death tended to occur earlier among the mice infected with alpha strains than the mice that died by infection caused by a strains. All unstable URA 5 transformants (DNA mediated) of C. neoformans var. neoformans exhibited the presence of an autonomously replicating plasmid which had undergone significant sequence rearrangement. The autonomously replicating plasmids in the transformants were maintained in linear form and had acquired genomic sequences with homology to a sequence(s) on all the chromosomes. These results suggest mechanisms of plasmid maintenance in C. neoformans that are different from those reported for other yeasts.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01AI000057-19
Application #
3790654
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
19
Fiscal Year
1992
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code

  Publications

Jong, Ambrose; Wu, Chun-Hua; Prasadarao, Nemani V et al. (2008) Invasion of Cryptococcus neoformans into human brain microvascular endothelial cells requires protein kinase C-alpha activation. Cell Microbiol 10:1854-65
Lupo, P; Chang, Y C; Kelsall, B L et al. (2008) The presence of capsule in Cryptococcus neoformans influences the gene expression profile in dendritic cells during interaction with the fungus. Infect Immun 76:1581-9
Jong, Ambrose; Wu, Chun-Hua; Shackleford, Gregory M et al. (2008) Involvement of human CD44 during Cryptococcus neoformans infection of brain microvascular endothelial cells. Cell Microbiol 10:1313-26
Okoli, Ikechukwu; Oyeka, Christie A; Kwon-Chung, Kyung J et al. (2007) Cryptotrichosporon anacardii gen. nov., sp. nov., a new trichosporonoid capsulate basidiomycetous yeast from Nigeria that is able to form melanin on niger seed agar. FEMS Yeast Res 7:339-50
Jong, Ambrose; Wu, Chun-Hua; Chen, Han-Min et al. (2007) Identification and characterization of CPS1 as a hyaluronic acid synthase contributing to the pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans infection. Eukaryot Cell 6:1486-96
Chang, Yun C; Bien, Clara M; Lee, Hyeseung et al. (2007) Sre1p, a regulator of oxygen sensing and sterol homeostasis, is required for virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans. Mol Microbiol 64:614-29
Lee, Hyeseung; Bien, Clara M; Hughes, Adam L et al. (2007) Cobalt chloride, a hypoxia-mimicking agent, targets sterol synthesis in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Mol Microbiol 65:1018-33
Kwon-Chung, Kyung J; Varma, Ashok (2006) Do major species concepts support one, two or more species within Cryptococcus neoformans? FEMS Yeast Res 6:574-87
Chang, Y C; Jong, A; Huang, S et al. (2006) CPS1, a homolog of the Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 polysaccharide synthase gene, is important for the pathobiology of Cryptococcus neoformans. Infect Immun 74:3930-8
Varma, Ashok; Wu, Shaoxi; Guo, Ningru et al. (2006) Identification of a novel gene, URE2, that functionally complements a urease-negative clinical strain of Cryptococcus neoformans. Microbiology 152:3723-31

Showing the most recent 10 out of 38 publications