Cell Biology and Metabolism
Developmental Expression of a Tandemly Repeated, Proline- and Glutamine-rich Amino Acid Motif on Hyphal Surfaces of Candida albicans(∗)

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cDNA sequences encoding a cell wall protein have been isolated from the opportunistic pathogen, Candida albicans, an organism that can cause serious disease in immunocompromised patients such as those with AIDS. The cDNA encodes a peptide that is largely composed of an acidic, repeated motif 10 amino acids in length that is rich in proline and glutamine residues. The cDNA gene product was found to be present on hyphal surfaces by immunofluorescence assays using monospecific antisera raised to the recombinant protein produced in Pichia pastoris. The hyphae-specific surface location was also seen on organisms colonizing the gastrointestinal mucosa of mice, indicating that the antigen is produced and developmentally regulated during growth in host tissues. The cDNA clone hybridized to an abundant messenger RNA 2.3 kilobases in size that was present in hyphal but not yeast forms. These studies demonstrate that the bud-hypha transition is accompanied by the de novo synthesis of proteins that are targeted to hyphal surfaces. The primary sequence of the unique amino acid motif shares features with surface proteins of other lower eukaryotic microorganisms and with host acidic salivary proline-rich proteins.

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This research was sponsored by the National Institute of Dental Research and funded by National Institutes of Health Grants DE10144 and DE11375 (to P. S.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore by hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The nucleotide sequence(s) reported in this paper has been submitted to the GenBank(™)/EMBL Data Bank with accession number(s) U29369.