First Advisor
Ian Cleary
Second Advisor
Derek Thomas
Keywords
C. auris, C. albicans, cell morphology, PHO15, antifungal resistance
Disciplines
Fungi
ScholarWorks Citation
Noyes, Carson P., "Does the way Candida auris differs from Candida albicans in one protein family relate to its drug resistance or emergence as an urgent threat to human health?" (2024). Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts. 245.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/sss/245
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Abstract
Candida auris is an opportunistic pathogen that is inherently drug resistant. There are increasing cases of C. auris infections across the United States that are causing deaths in immunodeficient patients. C. auris is a fungus that is closely related to a more studied microbe, Candida albicans. We have found that overexpressing the gene PHO15 in C. albicans can impair the organism’s ability to filament or create biofilms in certain growth conditions. This study aims to clone the C. auris ortholog of gene PHO15 and over-express it in C. albicans. Then, analyze the change in degree of filamentation, biofilm formation, macroscopic colony morphology, and antifungal resistance of the overexpression strain. If the C. auris ortholog overexpression strain has a similar effect on the virulence factors examined as the corresponding C. albicans strain had, then it is likely that the C. auris ortholog gene behaves similarly in C. auris, furthering the understanding of the microbe. Preliminary results indicate that the PHO15 ortholog gene conserves some function between C. auris and C. albicans because overexpression of both versions reduces hypha formation in YPD medium and increases tolerance to caspofungin.