TY - JOUR
T1 - Cdc42 regulates reactive oxygen species production in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans
AU - Kowalewski, Griffin P.
AU - Wildeman, Asia S.
AU - Bogliolo, Stéphanie
AU - Besold, Angelique N.
AU - Bassilana, Martine
AU - Culotta, Valeria C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding and additional information—This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grant R35 GM136644 (to V. C. C.) and by the CNRS and ANR grant ANR-19-CE13-0004-01 (to M. B.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 THE AUTHORS.
PY - 2021/8/1
Y1 - 2021/8/1
N2 - Across eukaryotes, Rho GTPases such as Rac and Cdc42 play important roles in establishing cell polarity, which is a key feature of cell growth. In mammals and filamentous fungi, Rac targets large protein complexes containing NADPH oxidases (NOX) that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). In comparison, Rho GTPases of unicellular eukaryotes were believed to signal cell polarity without ROS, and it was unclear whether Rho GTPases were required for ROS production in these organisms. We document here the first example of Rho GTPase–mediated post-transcriptional control of ROS in a unicellular microbe. Specifically, Cdc42 is required for ROS production by the NOX Fre8 of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. During morphogenesis to a hyphal form, a filamentous growth state, C. albicans FRE8 mRNA is induced, which leads to a burst in ROS. Fre8-ROS is also induced during morphogenesis when FRE8 is driven by an ectopic promoter; hence, Fre8 ROS production is in addition controlled at the post-transcriptional level. Using fluorescently tagged Fre8, we observe that the majority of the protein is associated with the vacuolar system. Interestingly, much of Fre8 in the vacuolar system appears inactive, and Fre8-induced ROS is only produced at sites near the hyphal tip, where Cdc42 is also localized during morphogenesis. We observe that Cdc42 is necessary to activate Fre8-mediated ROS production during morphogenesis. Cdc42 regulation of Fre8 occurs without the large NOX protein complexes typical of higher eukaryotes and therefore represents a novel form of ROS control by Rho GTPases.
AB - Across eukaryotes, Rho GTPases such as Rac and Cdc42 play important roles in establishing cell polarity, which is a key feature of cell growth. In mammals and filamentous fungi, Rac targets large protein complexes containing NADPH oxidases (NOX) that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). In comparison, Rho GTPases of unicellular eukaryotes were believed to signal cell polarity without ROS, and it was unclear whether Rho GTPases were required for ROS production in these organisms. We document here the first example of Rho GTPase–mediated post-transcriptional control of ROS in a unicellular microbe. Specifically, Cdc42 is required for ROS production by the NOX Fre8 of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. During morphogenesis to a hyphal form, a filamentous growth state, C. albicans FRE8 mRNA is induced, which leads to a burst in ROS. Fre8-ROS is also induced during morphogenesis when FRE8 is driven by an ectopic promoter; hence, Fre8 ROS production is in addition controlled at the post-transcriptional level. Using fluorescently tagged Fre8, we observe that the majority of the protein is associated with the vacuolar system. Interestingly, much of Fre8 in the vacuolar system appears inactive, and Fre8-induced ROS is only produced at sites near the hyphal tip, where Cdc42 is also localized during morphogenesis. We observe that Cdc42 is necessary to activate Fre8-mediated ROS production during morphogenesis. Cdc42 regulation of Fre8 occurs without the large NOX protein complexes typical of higher eukaryotes and therefore represents a novel form of ROS control by Rho GTPases.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111324369&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111324369&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100917
DO - 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100917
M3 - Article
C2 - 34181946
AN - SCOPUS:85111324369
SN - 0021-9258
VL - 297
JO - Journal of Biological Chemistry
JF - Journal of Biological Chemistry
IS - 2
M1 - 100917
ER -