Fig. 3: Albumin induces C. albicans transcriptional reprogramming.
From: Host albumin redirects Candida albicans metabolism to engage an alternative pathogenicity pathway
C. albicans RNA sequencing was performed at 0.5 h, 3 h, and 24 h of infection of A-431 cells and albumin supplementation (5 mg/mL, n = 3 for each condition). A Principal component analysis of gene expression, with arrows indicating the impact of albumin (green), and infection duration (gray). B Significant Gene-Ontology (GO) term enrichment for differentially regulated genes (log2fold change > 1 or < -1 and Benjamini-Hochberg Padj < 0.01) at 3 h and 24 h. The numbers underneath the time points on X axis correspond to the counts of clusterProfiler (i.e., total number of genes assigned to GO categories). GeneRatio corresponds to the ratio between the number of input genes assigned to a given GO category and counts. Adjustment of P values is done by Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. C Expression of several virulence-associated genes. D Expression of genes involved in biofilm formation27. Biofilm formation by C. albicans strains SC5314 and 101 on A-431 cells after 24 hpi was E quantified by measuring optical density at 550 nm after crystal violet staining (CV) staining (n = 3) or F visualized by confocal microscopy at ×10 magnification (scale bar = 50 µm). G Expression of amino acid and peptide transporters. Cytotoxicity of A-431 cells by measuring the LDH activity in the supernatant of (H) cells infected by C. albicans SC5314 or 101 in the presence or absence of amino acid supplementation (n = 4) or (I) infection by C. albicans SC5314, stp2ΔΔ, or stp2ΔΔSTP2 in the presence or absence of albumin (10 mg/mL) (n = 3). Legend color of C, D, G represent log2 fold change of gene expression in presence vs. absence of albumin. Up- or downregulation is indicated by asterisks (Benjamini-Hochberg Padj < 0.05 and log2 fold change >1 or <–1). Bars represent the mean ± SEM, and dots represent the mean of the technical replicates of the individual experiments (E, H–I). E, H, I data were compared for significance using a two-way ANOVA with Holm-Šídák multiple comparisons test. P values are provided in the figure for significant comparisons. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
