Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2011 Aug;14(4):380-5. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2011.06.001. Epub 2011 Jul 7.
Biofilms are microbial communities that form on surfaces and are embedded in an extracellular matrix. C. albicans forms pathogenic mucosal biofilms that are evoked by changes in host immunity or mucosal ecology. Mucosal surfaces are inhabited by many microbial species; hence these biofilms are polymicrobial. Several recent studies have applied paradigms of biofilm analysis to study mucosal C. albicans infections. These studies reveal that the Bcr1 transcription factor is a master regulator of C. albicans biofilm formation under diverse conditions, though the most relevant Bcr1 target genes can vary with the biofilm niche. An important determinant of mucosal biofilm formation is the interaction with host defenses. Finally, studies of interactions between bacterial species and C. albicans provide insight into the communication mechanisms that endow polymicrobial biofilms with unique properties.
生物膜是在表面形成并嵌入细胞外基质中的微生物群落。白色念珠菌形成致病性黏膜生物膜，这是由宿主免疫或黏膜生态的变化引起的。黏膜表面栖息着许多微生物物种；因此，这些生物膜是多微生物的。最近的几项研究应用生物膜分析的范例来研究黏膜白色念珠菌感染。这些研究表明，Bcr1 转录因子是白色念珠菌在多种条件下形成生物膜的主要调节剂，尽管最相关的 Bcr1 靶基因可能随生物膜生态位而变化。黏膜生物膜形成的一个重要决定因素是与宿主防御的相互作用。最后，对细菌物种与白色念珠菌之间相互作用的研究提供了深入了解赋予多微生物生物膜独特特性的沟通机制。
