A novel Candida glabrata doxycycline-inducible system for in vitro/in vivo use

This study proposes a novel tetracycline-inducible system for gene expression in the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata. Candida glabrata is an important pathogen causing superficial to invasive disease in human. Conditional expression systems are helpful in addressing the function of genes and especially when they can be applied to in vivo studies. Tetracycline-dependent regulation systems have been used in diverse fungi to turn-on (Tet-on) or turn-off (Tet-off) gene expression either in vitro but also in vivo in animal models. Up to now, only a Tet-off expression has been constructed for gene expression in C. glabrata. Here, we report a Tet-on gene expression system which can be used in vitro and in vivo in any C. glabrata genetic background. This system was used in a mice model of systemic infection to demonstrate that the general amino acid permease Gap1 is important for C. glabrata virulence.

Automated summary

This study presents a new tetracycline-inducible system for gene expression in Candida glabrata, a fungal pathogen. The system can be used both in vitro and in vivo in any genetic background of C. glabrata, and was successfully employed in a mouse model to demonstrate the importance of a specific gene in the virulence of C. glabrata.