Eukaryotic Cell
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Walther, A.
Right arrow Articles by Wendland, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Walther, A.
Right arrow Articles by Wendland, J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2004, p. 471-482, Vol. 3, No. 2
1535-9778/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.3.2.471-482.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Polarized Hyphal Growth in Candida albicans Requires the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Homolog Wal1p{dagger}

A. Walther and J. Wendland*

Junior Research Group: Growth Control of Fungal Pathogens, Hans-Knöll Institute for Natural Products Research and Department of Microbiology, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena D-07745, Germany

Received 26 July 2003/ Accepted 1 December 2003

The yeast-to-hypha transition is a key feature in the cell biology of the dimorphic human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is required for this dimorphic switch in Candida. We show that C. albicans WAL1 mutants with both copies of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) homolog deleted do not form hyphae under all inducing conditions tested. Growth of the wild-type and wal1 mutant strains was monitored by in vivo time-lapse microscopy both during yeast-like growth and under hypha-inducing conditions. Isotropic bud growth produced round wal1 cells and unusual mother cell growth. Defects in the organization of the actin cytoskeleton resulted in the random localization of actin patches. Furthermore, wal1 cells exhibited defects in the endocytosis of the lipophilic dye FM4-64, contained increased numbers of vacuoles compared to the wild type, and showed defects in bud site selection. Under hypha-inducing conditions wal1 cells were able to initiate polarized morphogenesis, which, however, resulted in the formation of pseudohyphal cells. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged Wal1p showed patch-like localization in emerging daughter cells during the yeast growth phase and at the hyphal tips under hypha-inducing conditions. Wal1p-GFP localization largely overlapped with that of actin. Our results demonstrate that Wal1p is required for the organization of the actin cytoskeleton and hyphal morphogenesis in C. albicans as well as for endocytosis and vacuole morphology.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Mikrobiology, Hans-Knoell Institute for Natural Products Research e.V. and Friedrich-Schiller-University, Hans-Knoell Str.2/Winzerlaer Str. 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany. Phone: 49-3641-65-7639. Fax: 49-3641-65-7633. E-mail: juergen.wendland{at}uni-jena.de.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://ec.asm.org/.

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2004, p. 471-482, Vol. 3, No. 2
1535-9778/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.3.2.471-482.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. J. Bacteriol.
Mol. Cell Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. ALL ASM JOURNALS
Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology.