Two transcripts, differing at their 3' ends, are produced from the Candida albicans SEC14 gene.

A search for Candida albicans mutants defective in filamentous growth led to the isolation of a mutant strain with an insertion mutation in the SEC14 gene. SEC14 encodes the phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein, an essential protein in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, SEC14 is needed for growth only in the hyphal form and is not required for growth in the yeast form. However, unlike Y. lipolytica SEC14, C. albicans SEC14 is probably essential for growth. Northern blot analysis and PCR amplification of transcripts produced from the SEC14 gene demonstrated that two transcripts differing at their 3' ends were produced. The two transcripts may regulate the activity of SEC14 so that Sec14p can perform two functions in C. albicans. One function may be an essential function analogous to the function of Sec14p in S. cerevisiae and the second function may be important during filamentous growth, analogous to the function of Sec14p in Y. lipolytica.