Respiring to infect: Emerging links between mitochondria, the electron transport chain, and fungal pathogenesis

• Published in: PLoS pathogens Vol. 17; no. 7; p. e1009661
• Main Authors: Black, Braydon, Lee, Christopher, Horianopoulos, Linda C., Jung, Won Hee, Kronstad, James W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 08.07.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adenosine; Adenosine monophosphate; Biology and Life Sciences; Candidiasis; Cell walls; Cyclic AMP; Disease; Electron transport; Electron transport chain; Endosomes; Fungal infections; Fungi; Fungi, Pathogenic; Golgi apparatus; Health aspects; Homeostasis; Hypoxia; Immune response; Iron; Kinases; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolism; Mitochondria; Morphology; N-Ethylmaleimide; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Pearls; Permease; Physiological aspects; Protein kinase A; Protein transport; Proteins; Reactive oxygen species; Research and Analysis Methods; Respiration; Roles; SNAP receptors; Sodium nitroprusside; Vesicle fusion; Virulence; Canada; South Korea
• ISSN: 1553-7374; 1553-7366; 1553-7374
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009661

Critically important activities related to drug susceptibility and resistance are the subject of other recent reviews [2–9]. cAMP, cyclic adenosine monophosphate; ETC, electron transport chain; PKA, protein kinase A; ROS, reactive oxygen species. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009661.g001 [Figure omitted. ETC, electron transport chain; SHAM, salicylhydroxamic acid; SNP, sodium nitroprusside. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009661.g002 The electron transport chain is connected to fungal pathogenesis Mitochondrial function is important for fungi to cause disease, particularly in the context of adaptation to challenges in the mammalian environment (e.g., nutrient limitation, the response to stress, and the immune response). The response to iron limitation was dependent on the iron permease, Ftr1, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA), and the transcription factor Sef1 that activates the expression of iron uptake functions and is required for candidiasis [21]. Furthermore, iron acquisition, cell wall integrity, mitochondrial function, and virulence in C. neoformans are dependent on Vps45, a Sec1/Munc18 (SM) protein that participates in vesicle fusion in the trans-Golgi network-early endosome and the late endosome pathways via interactions with soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins [28].