Comparative Transcriptomics of Candida albicans: Identifying Species-Specific Filamentation Genes Dependent on Environment
Presenter Type
UNO Graduate Student (Masters)
Major/Field of Study
Biology
Advisor Information
Associate Professor and Department Chair of Biology
Location
CEC RM #201/205/209
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
22-3-2024 1:00 PM
End Date
22-3-2024 2:15 PM
Abstract
Candida albicans is a human commensal and opportunistic pathogen that lives in the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts with infections ranging from superficial to lethal systemic disease. In the United States, Candida infections are the fourth leading cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections with a 40% mortality rate. Candida albicans species can exist in several morphological states of yeast-like budding, pseudohyphae, and hyphae (filamentous). The ability to switch morphologically is closely linked to pathogenesis and much of our understanding to identify these mechanisms has been studied in Candida albicans type strain, SC5314. Other clinical C. albicans strains are genetically and phenotypically divergent from this type of strain, particularly in their ability to filament. In our study, we are examining the filamentation transcriptome of a non-SC5314 clinical strain of C. albicans. We will compare this transcriptome to our already-published filamentation transcriptome of SC5314 to identify filamentation-related gene regulation signatures that are conserved species-wide. Clinical isolate P87 was grown in several filamentation inducing and two control conditions. Filamentous cells were extracted and purified for RNA seq. We used different bioinformatic approaches to prepare the data for read alignment and quantification of gene and transcript levels. We will describe the RNA seq workflow methodology, and highlight challenges and outcomes associated with each step in quantifying gene expression. This data will identify a species-independent, media-independent, filamentation transcriptome for C. albicans.
Comparative Transcriptomics of Candida albicans: Identifying Species-Specific Filamentation Genes Dependent on Environment
CEC RM #201/205/209
Candida albicans is a human commensal and opportunistic pathogen that lives in the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts with infections ranging from superficial to lethal systemic disease. In the United States, Candida infections are the fourth leading cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections with a 40% mortality rate. Candida albicans species can exist in several morphological states of yeast-like budding, pseudohyphae, and hyphae (filamentous). The ability to switch morphologically is closely linked to pathogenesis and much of our understanding to identify these mechanisms has been studied in Candida albicans type strain, SC5314. Other clinical C. albicans strains are genetically and phenotypically divergent from this type of strain, particularly in their ability to filament. In our study, we are examining the filamentation transcriptome of a non-SC5314 clinical strain of C. albicans. We will compare this transcriptome to our already-published filamentation transcriptome of SC5314 to identify filamentation-related gene regulation signatures that are conserved species-wide. Clinical isolate P87 was grown in several filamentation inducing and two control conditions. Filamentous cells were extracted and purified for RNA seq. We used different bioinformatic approaches to prepare the data for read alignment and quantification of gene and transcript levels. We will describe the RNA seq workflow methodology, and highlight challenges and outcomes associated with each step in quantifying gene expression. This data will identify a species-independent, media-independent, filamentation transcriptome for C. albicans.