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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2007, p. 487-494, Vol. 6, No. 3
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00387-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification and Characterization of MFA1, the Gene Encoding Candida albicans a-Factor Pheromone

Daniel Dignard,^1* Ahmed L. El-Naggar,² Mary E. Logue,³ Geraldine Butler,³ and Malcolm Whiteway¹

NRC Biotechnology Research Institute, 6100 Royalmount Ave., Montreal, Quebec H4P 2R2, Canada,¹ Desert Research Center, 1 Mathaf El-Matariya Street, El-Matariya, P.O. Box 11753, Cairo, Egypt,² School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland³

Received 7 December 2006/ Accepted 18 December 2006

In the opaque state, MTLa and MTL strains of Candida albicans are able to mate, and this mating is directed by a pheromone-mediated signaling process. We have used comparisons of genome sequences to identify a C. albicans gene encoding a candidate a-specific mating factor. This gene is conserved in Candida dubliniensis and is similar to a three-gene family in the related fungus Candida parapsilosis but has extremely limited similarity to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MFA1 (ScMFA1) and ScMFA2 genes. All these genes encode C-terminal CAAX box motifs characteristic of prenylated proteins. The C. albicans gene, designated CaMFA1, is found on chromosome 2 between ORF19.2165 and ORF19.2219. MFA1 encodes an open reading frame of 42 amino acids that is predicted to be processed to a 14-amino-acid prenylated mature pheromone. Microarray analysis shows that MFA1 is poorly expressed in opaque MTLa cells but is induced when the cells are treated with -factor. Disruption of this C. albicans gene blocks the mating of MTLa cells but not MTL cells, while the reintegration of the gene suppresses this cell-type-specific mating defect.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: NRC Biotechnology Research Institute, 6100 Royalmount Ave., Montreal, Quebec H4P 2R2, Canada. Phone: (514) 496-6359. Fax: (514) 496-6213. E-mail: daniel.dignard{at}cnrc.gc.ca.

Published ahead of print on 5 January 2007.

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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2007, p. 487-494, Vol. 6, No. 3
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00387-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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