Candida albicans Kar2 protein is essential and functions during the translocation of proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum

Since the secretory pathway is essential for Candida albicans to transition from a commensal organism to a pathogen, an understanding of how this pathway functions may be beneficial for identifying novel drug targets to prevent candidiasis. We have cloned the C. albicans KAR2 gene, which performs ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current genetics 2011-02, Vol.57 (1), p.25-37
Main Authors: Morrow, Michael W, Janke, Megan R, Lund, Kyle, Morrison, Emily P, Paulson, Benjamin A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Candida albicans
Candida albicans - genetics
Candida albicans - metabolism
Cell Biology
Endoplasmic Reticulum - metabolism
ER translocation
Fungal Proteins - genetics
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins - genetics
HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins - metabolism
KAR2
Life Sciences
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Plant Sciences
Protein Transport
Proteomics
Research Article
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism
Secretory pathway
Translocation
Translocation assay
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Summary:Since the secretory pathway is essential for Candida albicans to transition from a commensal organism to a pathogen, an understanding of how this pathway functions may be beneficial for identifying novel drug targets to prevent candidiasis. We have cloned the C. albicans KAR2 gene, which performs many roles during the translocation of proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) during the first committed step of the secretory pathway in many eukaryotes. Our results show that C. albicans KAR2 is essential, and that the encoded protein rescues a temperature-sensitive growth defect found in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain harboring a mutant form of the Kar2 protein. Additionally, S. cerevisiae containing CaKAR2 as the sole copy of this essential gene are viable, and ER microsomes prepared from this strain exhibit wild-type levels of post-translational translocation during in vitro translocation assays. Finally, ER microsomes isolated from a C. albicans strain expressing reduced amounts of KAR2 mRNA are defective for in vitro translocation of a secreted substrate protein, establishing a new method to study ER translocation in this organism. Together, these results suggest that C. albicans Kar2p functions during the translocation of proteins into the ER during the first step of the secretory pathway.
ISSN:0172-8083
1432-0983
DOI:10.1007/s00294-010-0323-1