Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Eukaryotic Cell, September 2005, p. 1562-1573, Vol. 4, No. 9
1535-9778/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/EC.4.9.1562-1573.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Stefan Habelitz,2
Jan Dungan,1 and
Nina M. Agabian1,3,4*
Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology,1 Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences,2 Microbiology and Immunology,3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, California 941434
Received 24 February 2005/ Accepted 10 June 2005
The ability to adhere to surfaces and develop as a multicellular community is an adaptation used by most microorganisms to survive in changing environments. Biofilm formation proceeds through distinct developmental phases and impacts not only medicine but also industry and evolution. In organisms such as the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans, the ability to grow as biofilms is also an important mechanism for persistence, facilitating its growth on different tissues and a broad range of abiotic surfaces used in medical devices. The early stage of C. albicans biofilm is characterized by the adhesion of single cells to the substratum, followed by the formation of an intricate network of hyphae and the beginning of a dense structure. Changes in the transcriptome begin within 30 min of contact with the substrate and include expression of genes related to sulfur metabolism, in particular MET3, and the equivalent gene homologues of the Ribi regulon in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Some of these changes are initiated early and maintained throughout the process; others are restricted to the earliest stages of biofilm formation. We identify here a potential alternative pathway for cysteine metabolism and the biofilm-associated expression of genes involved in glutathione production in C. albicans.
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://ec.asm.org/.
Present address: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and Department of Life Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»