Kronstad James W, Hu Guanggan, Choi Jaehyuk
The Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Mycobiology. 2011 Sep;39(3):143-50. doi: 10.5941/MYCO.2011.39.3.143. Epub 2011 Sep 27.
The basidiomycete fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is an important pathogen of immunocompromised people. The ability of the fungus to sense its environment is critical for proliferation and the generation of infectious propagules, as well as for adaptation to the mammalian host during infection. The conserved cAMP/protein kinase A pathway makes an important contribution to sensing, as demonstrated by the phenotypes of mutants with pathway defects. These phenotypes include loss of the ability to mate and to elaborate the key virulence factors capsule and melanin. This review summarizes recent work that reveals new targets of the pathway, new phenotypic consequences of signaling defects, and a more detailed understanding of connections with other aspects of cryptococcal biology including iron regulation, pH sensing, and stress.
担子菌纲真菌新型隐球菌是免疫功能低下人群的重要病原体。该真菌感知其环境的能力对于其增殖、产生感染性繁殖体以及在感染期间适应哺乳动物宿主至关重要。保守的cAMP/蛋白激酶A途径对感知起着重要作用，途径缺陷突变体的表型证明了这一点。这些表型包括失去交配能力以及产生关键毒力因子荚膜和黑色素的能力。本综述总结了近期的研究工作，这些工作揭示了该途径的新靶点、信号缺陷的新表型后果，以及对与新型隐球菌生物学其他方面（包括铁调节、pH感知和应激）联系的更详细理解。
