Connecting virulence pathways to cell-cycle progression in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

摘要: Proliferation and host evasion are critical processes to understand at a basic biological level for improving infectious disease treatment options. The human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans causes meningitis in immunocompromised individuals by proliferating cerebrospinal fluid. Current antifungal drugs target "virulence factors" disease, such as components of the cell wall polysaccharide capsule C. neoformans. However, mechanistic links between virulence pathways cycle not well studied. Recently, cell-cycle synchronized cells were profiled over time identify gene expression dynamics (Kelliher et al., PLoS Genet 12(12):e1006453, 2016). Almost 20% all genes genome periodically activated during rich media, including 40 that have previously been implicated pathways. Here, we review important findings about cell-cycle-regulated provide two examples pathways-chitin synthesis G-protein coupled receptor signaling-with their putative connections division. We propose "comparative functional genomics" approach, leveraging timing cycle, orthology other species, previous experimental findings, can lead hypotheses connecting virulence.