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http://dx.doi.org/10.4489/KJM.2011.39.1.085

Disruption of the Dual Specificity Kinase Gene Causes the Reduction of Virulence in Candida albicans  

Park, Yun-Hee (Department of Microbiology & Molecular Biology, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University)
Park, Hee-Moon (Department of Microbiology & Molecular Biology, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University)
Publication Information
The Korean Journal of Mycology / v.39, no.1, 2011 , pp. 85-87 More about this Journal
Abstract
The opportunistic human pathogen Candida albicans has the ability to convert from yeast-form to pseudohyphal or true hyphal form. The morphological transition is considered as an important virulence factor, because the decrease or lack in dimorphism causes the reduction of virulence. Our previous study revealed that the disruption of dual specificity kinase gene caused the reduction of dimorphism in C. albicans. Therefore we tested the effect of dual specificity kinase in virulence using mouse model. The mean survival time for kinase-defective strains was about 15 days in comparison with those of wild-type, 3.9 days. Moreover the fungal burden on kidneys for kinase-defective strains was decreased by ten-fold than that for wild-type. These results suggest possible involvement of dual specificity kinase in a novel signal transduction pathway for morphological transition and virulence of C. albicans.
Keywords
Candida albicans; Dual specificity kinase; Mouse; Virulence;
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