Specific stress-induced storage of trehalose, glycerol and d-arabitol in response to oxidative and osmotic stress in Candida albicans

• Published in: Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2013-01, Vol.430 (4), p.1334-1339
• Main Authors: Sánchez-Fresneda, Ruth, Guirao-Abad, José P., Argüelles, Alejandra, González-Párraga, Pilar, Valentín, Eulogio, Argüelles, Juan-Carlos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Candida albicans; Candida albicans - metabolism; d-Arabitol; Glycerol; Glycerol - metabolism; HPLC; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Osmotic Pressure; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxidative Stress; Stress; Sugar Alcohols - metabolism; Trehalose; Trehalose - biosynthesis; Trehalose - metabolism
• ISSN: 0006-291X; 1090-2104
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2012.10.118

► Candida albicans has evolved a complex defensive response against stress. ► The synthesis of trehalose, glycerol and d-arabitol occurs in a stress-specific dependent manner. ► Trehalose and d-arabitol are accumulated in response to oxidative stress. ► Osmotic challenges induced the storage of glycerol. ► Whereas glycerol synthesis depends on a functional Hog1 pathway, trehalose is Hog1 independent. Candida albicans exponential yeast cells are able to face environmental challenges by mounting a rapid and efficient “general stress response”. Here we show that one of the main components of this response consists of the intracellular protective accumulation of the non-reducing disaccharide trehalose and two polyols, glycerol and d-arabitol, an accumulation that occurs in a stress-specific dependent manner. Thus, oxidative exposures promoted a marked increase in both trehalose and d-arabitol in the wild type strain, RM-100, whereas the glycerol content remained virtually unaffected with respect to basal levels. In contrast, osmotic challenges induced the significant storage of glycerol accompanied by minor changes, or even a slight drop, in the intracellular content of trehalose and d-arabitol. We examined the hypothetical role in this process of the MAP kinase Hog1, which regulates the protective responses in C. albicans against both oxidative and osmotic stress. Interestingly, unlike glycerol synthesis, the stress-induced trehalose accumulation was always Hog1-independent, whereas the ability to synthesize d-arabitol was only partially dependent on a functional Hog1 pathway.