Candida species are the most common cause of opportunistic fungal infection worldwide. Here we report the genome sequences of six Candida species and compare these and related pathogens and non-pathogens. There are significant expansions of cell wall, secreted and transporter gene families in pathogenic species, suggesting adaptations associated with virulence. Large genomic tracts are homozygous in three diploid species, possibly resulting from recent recombination events. Surprisingly, key components of the mating and meiosis pathways are missing from several species. These include major differences at the mating-type loci (MTL); Lodderomyces elongisporus lacks MTL, and components of the a1/α2 cell identity determinant were lost in other species, raising questions about how mating and cell types are controlled. Analysis of the CUG leucine-to-serine genetic-code change reveals that 99% of ancestral CUG codons were erased and new ones arose elsewhere. Lastly, we revise the Candida albicans gene catalogue, identifying many new genes.

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is widely exploited by the fermentation industry for the production of enzymes and organic acids, particularly citric acid. We sequenced the 33.9-megabase genome of A. niger CBS 513.88, the ancestor of currently used enzyme production strains. A high level of synteny was observed with other aspergilli sequenced. Strong function predictions were made for 6,506 of the 14,165 open reading frames identified. A detailed description of the components of the protein secretion pathway was made and striking differences in the hydrolytic enzyme spectra of aspergilli were observed. A reconstructed metabolic network comprising 1,069 unique reactions illustrates the versatile metabolism of A. niger. Noteworthy is the large number of major facilitator superfamily transporters and fungal zinc binuclear cluster transcription factors, and the presence of putative gene clusters for fumonisin and ochratoxin A synthesis.

In this review, we discuss new insights in cell wall architecture and cell wall construction in the ascomycetous yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Transcriptional profiling studies combined with biochemical work have provided ample evidence that the cell wall is a highly adaptable organelle. In particular, the protein population that is anchored to the stress‐bearing polysaccharides of the cell wall, and forms the interface with the outside world, is highly diverse. This diversity is believed to play an important role in adaptation of the cell to environmental conditions, in growth mode and in survival. Cell wall construction is tightly controlled and strictly coordinated with progression of the cell cycle. This is reflected in the usage of specific cell wall proteins during consecutive phases of the cell cycle and in the recent discovery of a cell wall integrity checkpoint. When the cell is challenged with stress conditions that affect the cell wall, a specific transcriptional response is observed that includes the general stress response, the cell wall integrity pathway and the calcineurin pathway. This salvage mechanism includes increased expression of putative cell wall assemblases and some potential cross‐linking cell wall proteins, and crucial changes in cell wall architecture. We discuss some more enzymes involved in cell wall construction and also potential inhibitors of these enzymes. Finally, we use both biochemical and genomic data to infer that the architectural principles used by S. cerevisiae to build its cell wall are also used by many other ascomycetous yeasts and also by some mycelial ascomycetous fungi. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Summary: Survival in blood and escape from blood vessels into tissues are essential steps for the yeast Candida albicans to cause systemic infections. To elucidate the influence of blood components on fungal growth, morphology and transcript profile during bloodstream infections, we exposed C. albicans to blood, blood fractions enriched in erythrocytes, polymorphonuclear or mononuclear leukocytes, blood depleted of neutrophils and plasma. C. albicans cells exposed to erythrocytes, mononuclear cells, plasma or blood lacking neutrophils were physiologically active and rapidly switched to filamentous growth. In contrast, the presence of neutrophils arrested C. albicans growth, enhanced the fungal response to overcome nitrogen and carbohydrate starvation, and induced the expression of a large number of genes involved in the oxidative stress response. In particular, SOD5, encoding a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)‐anchored superoxide dismutase localized on the cell surface of C. albicans, was strongly expressed in yeast cells that were associated with neutrophils. Mutants lacking key genes involved in oxidative stress, morphology or virulence had significantly reduced survival rates in blood and the neutrophil fraction, but remained viable for at least 1 h of incubation when exposed to erythrocytes, mononuclear cells, plasma or blood lacking neutrophils. These data suggest that C. albicans genes expressed in blood were predominantly induced in response to neutrophils, and that neutrophils play a key role during C. albicans bloodstream infections. However, C. albicans is equipped with several genes and transcriptional programmes, which may help the fungus to counteract the attack of neutrophils, to escape from the bloodstream and to cause systemic infections.

Understanding the pathogenesis of an infectious disease is critical for developing new methods to prevent infection and diagnose or cure disease. Adherence of microorganisms to host tissue is a prerequisite for tissue invasion and infection. Fungal cell wall adhesins involved in adherence to host tissue or abiotic medical devices are critical for colonization leading to invasion and damage of host tissue. Here, with a main focus on pathogenic Candida species, we summarize recent progress made in the field of adhesins in human fungal pathogens and underscore the importance of these proteins in establishment of fungal diseases.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐modified (GPI) proteins share structural features that allow their identification using a genomic approach. From the known S. cerevisiae and C. albicans GPI proteins, the following consensus sequence for the GPI attachment site and its downstream region was derived: [NSGDAC]–[GASVIETKDLF]–[GASV]–X(4,19)–[FILMVAGPSTCYWN](10)>, where > indicates the C‐terminal end of the protein. This consensus sequence, which recognized known GPI proteins from various fungi, was used to screen the genomes of the yeasts S. cerevisiae, C. albicans, Sz. pombe and the filamentous fungus N. crassa for putative GPI proteins. The subsets of proteins so obtained were further screened for the presence of an N‐terminal signal sequence for the secretion and absence of internal transmembrane domains. In this way, we identified 66 putative GPI proteins in S. cerevisiae. Some of these are known GPI proteins that were not identified by earlier genomic analyses, indicating that this selection procedure renders a more complete image of the S. cerevisiae GPI proteome. Using the same approach, 104 putative GPI proteins were identified in the human pathogen C. albicans. Among these were the proteins Gas/Phr, Ecm33, Crh and Plb, all members of GPI protein families that are also present in S. cerevisiae. In addition, several proteins and protein families with no significant homology to S. cerevisiae proteins were identified, including the cell wall‐associated Als, Csa1/Rbt5, Hwp1/Rbt1 and Hyr1 protein families. In Sz. pombe, which has a low level of (galacto)mannan in the cell wall compared to C. albicans and S. cerevisiae, only 33 GPI candidates were identified and in N. crassa 97. BLAST searches revealed that about half of the putative GPI proteins that were identified in Sz. pombe and N. crassa are homologous to known or putative GPI proteins from other fungi. We conclude that our algorithm is selective and can also be used for GPI protein identification in other fungi. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.