Mol. Cells 2012; 33(2): 183~193  DOI: 10.1007/s10059-012-2244-y
A MAP Kinase Pathway Is Implicated in the Pseudohyphal Induction by Hydrogen Peroxide in Candica albicans
Kavitha Srinivasa1, Jihyun Kim1, Subog Yee2, Wankee Kim3,*, and Wonja Choi1,2,*
1Division of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea, 2Microbial Resources Research Center, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea, 3Institute for Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon 442-749, Korea
*Correspondence: kinesin03@hanmail.net (WK); wjchoi@ewha.ac.kr (WC)
Received October 31, 2011; Revised December 12, 2011; Accepted December 14, 2011.; Published online February 15, 2012.
© The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology. All rights reserved.

ABSTRACT
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) functions as a ubiquitous intracellular messenger besides as an oxidative stress molecule. This dual role is based on the distinct cellular responses against different concentrations of H2O2. Previously, we demonstrated that both low (> 1 mM) and high (4-10 mM) doses of exogenous H2O2 induce filamentous growth with distinct cell morphology and growth rate in Candida albicans, suggesting the different transcription response. In this study, we revealed that the sub-toxic and toxic levels of H2O2 indeed induced pseudohyphae, but not true hyphae. Supporting this, several hyphae-specific genes that are expressed in true hyphae induced by serum were not detected in either sub-toxic or toxic H2O2 condition. A DNA microarray analysis was conducted to reveal the transcription profiles in cells treated with sub-toxic and toxic conditions of H2O2. Under the sub-toxic condition, a small number of genes involved in cell proliferation and metabolism were up-regulated, whereas a large number of genes were up-regulated in the toxic condition where the genes required for growth and proliferation were selectively restricted. For pseudohyphal induction by sub-toxic H2O2, Cek1 MAPK activating the transcription factor Cph1 was shown to be important. The absence of expression of several hyphae-specific genes known to be downstream targets of Cph1-signaling pathway for true hyphae formation suggests that the Cek1-mediated signaling pathway is not solely responsible for pseudohyphal formation by sub-toxic H2O2 and, but instead, complex networking pathway may exists by the activation of different regulators.
Keywords: Candida albicans, H2O2, intracellular messenger, signaling pathway, transcription profiling

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