Vacuolar trafficking and Candida albicans pathogenesis.

The vacuole is likely to play a variety of roles in supporting host colonization and infection by pathogenic species of fungi. In the human pathogen Candida albicans, the vacuole undergoes dynamic morphological shifts during the production of the tissue invasive hyphal form, and this organelle is required for virulence. Recent efforts in my lab have focused on defining which vacuolar trafficking pathways are required for C. albicans hyphal growth and pathogenesis. Our results indicate that there are several distinct trafficking routes between the Golgi apparatus and vacuole. However, there is a large degree of functional overlap between each with respect to their roles in hyphal growth and virulence. Herein we consider these results and propose that during hyphal growth, specific trafficking routes maybe less important than the aggregate vacuolar trafficking capacity.