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Lim SJ, Muhd Noor ND, Sabri S, Mohamad Ali MS, Salleh AB, Oslan SN. Features of the rare pathogen Meyerozyma guilliermondii strain SO and comprehensive in silico analyses of its adherence-contributing virulence factor agglutinin-like sequences. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2024:1-21. [PMID: 38189364 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2300757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Meyerozyma guilliermondii is a rare yeast pathogen contributing to the deadly invasive candidiasis. M. guilliermondii strain SO, as a promising protein expression host, showed 99% proteome similarity with the clinically isolated ATCC 6260 (type strain) in a recent comparative genomic analysis. However, their in vitro virulence features and in vivo pathogenicity were uncharacterized. This study aimed to characterize the in vitro and in vivo pathogenicity of M. guilliermondii strain SO and analyze its Als proteins (MgAls) via comprehensive bioinformatics approaches. M. guilliermondii strain SO showed lower and higher sensitivity towards β-mercaptoethanol and lithium, respectively than the avirulent S. cerevisiae but exhibited the same tolerance towards cell wall-perturbing Congo Red with C. albicans. With 7.5× higher biofilm mass, M. guilliermondii strain SO also demonstrated 75% higher mortality rate in the zebrafish embryos with a thicker biofilm layer on the chorion compared to the avirulent S. cerevisiae. Being one of the most important Candida adhesins, sequence and structural analyses of four statistically identified MgAls showed that MgAls1056 was predicted to exhibit the most conserved amyloid-forming regions, tandem repeat domain and peptide binding cavity (PBC) compared to C. albicans Als3. Favoured from the predicted largest ligand binding site and druggable pockets, it showed the highest affinity towards hepta-threonine. Non-PBC druggable pockets in the most potent virulence contributing MgAls1056 provide new insights into developing antifungal drugs targeting non-albicans Candida spp. Virtual screening of available synthetic or natural bioactive compounds and MgAls1056 deletion from the fungal genome should be further performed and validated experimentally.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si Jie Lim
- Enzyme Technology and X-ray Crystallography Laboratory, VacBio 5, Institute of Bioscience Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Noor Dina Muhd Noor
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Suriana Sabri
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Mohd Shukuri Mohamad Ali
- Enzyme Technology and X-ray Crystallography Laboratory, VacBio 5, Institute of Bioscience Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Abu Bakar Salleh
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Siti Nurbaya Oslan
- Enzyme Technology and X-ray Crystallography Laboratory, VacBio 5, Institute of Bioscience Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology (EMTech) Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
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Wang T, Pan M, Bao M, Bu Q, Yang R, Yang Y, Shao J, Wang C, Li N. Ethyl caffeate combined with fluconazole exhibits efficacy against azole-resistant oropharyngeal candidiasis via the EFGR/JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway. Med Mycol 2023; 61:myad114. [PMID: 37947257 DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myad114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Ethyl caffeate (EC) is a phenylpropanoid compound derived from Elephantopus scaber. In our previous work, EC was investigated to have a strong synergistic antifungal effect against azole-resistant strains of Candida albicans when combined with fluconazole (FLU). However, the protective effect and mechanism of EC + FLU on oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) caused by drug-resistant strains of C. albicans have not been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect and mechanism of EC combined with FLU against C. albicans-resistant strains that lead to OPC. An OPC mouse model revealed that EC + FLU treatment reduced fungal load and massive hyphal invasion of tongue tissues, and ameliorated the integrity of the tongue mucosa. Periodic acid-Schiff staining results showed more structural integrity of the tongue tissues and reduced inflammatory cell infiltration after EC + FLU treatment. Phosphorylation of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and other proteins in the EFGR/JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase)/c-JUN (transcription factor Jun) signaling pathway was significantly downregulated by EC + FLU. EGFR and S100A9 mRNA expression were also reduced. The above results were verified in FaDu cells. ELISA results showed that the concentration of inflammatory factors in the cell supernatant was significantly reduced after EC combined with FLU treatment. Molecular docking revealed that EC exhibited high binding energy to EGFR. In conclusion, EC enhances the susceptibility of azole-resistant C. albicans to FLU, and the underlying mechanism is related to the inhibition of the EGFR/JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway. This result suggests that EC has potential to be developed as an antifungal sensitizer to treat OPC caused by azole-resistant C. albicans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianming Wang
- Inflammation and Immune Mediated Diseases Laboratory of Anhui Province, School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meshan Road, Hefei 230032, China
- School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Min Pan
- School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Mengyuan Bao
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Qingru Bu
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Ruotong Yang
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Yue Yang
- School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Jing Shao
- School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Changzhong Wang
- School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, China
| | - Ning Li
- Inflammation and Immune Mediated Diseases Laboratory of Anhui Province, School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meshan Road, Hefei 230032, China
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Lipke PN, Ragonis-Bachar P. Sticking to the Subject: Multifunctionality in Microbial Adhesins. J Fungi (Basel) 2023; 9:jof9040419. [PMID: 37108873 PMCID: PMC10144551 DOI: 10.3390/jof9040419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacterial and fungal adhesins mediate microbial aggregation, biofilm formation, and adhesion to host. We divide these proteins into two major classes: professional adhesins and moonlighting adhesins that have a non-adhesive activity that is evolutionarily conserved. A fundamental difference between the two classes is the dissociation rate. Whereas moonlighters, including cytoplasmic enzymes and chaperones, can bind with high affinity, they usually dissociate quickly. Professional adhesins often have unusually long dissociation rates: minutes or hours. Each adhesin has at least three activities: cell surface association, binding to a ligand or adhesive partner protein, and as a microbial surface pattern for host recognition. We briefly discuss Bacillus subtilis TasA, pilin adhesins, gram positive MSCRAMMs, and yeast mating adhesins, lectins and flocculins, and Candida Awp and Als families. For these professional adhesins, multiple activities include binding to diverse ligands and binding partners, assembly into molecular complexes, maintenance of cell wall integrity, signaling for cellular differentiation in biofilms and in mating, surface amyloid formation, and anchorage of moonlighting adhesins. We summarize the structural features that lead to these diverse activities. We conclude that adhesins resemble other proteins with multiple activities, but they have unique structural features to facilitate multifunctionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter N. Lipke
- Biology Department, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Peleg Ragonis-Bachar
- Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
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