Fungal pathogens exposed – genomic and phenotypic insights into <em>Candida auris</em> and its relatives of the <em>Candida haemulonii</em> species complex

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fungal pathogens exposed – genomic and phenotypic insights into Candida auris and its relatives of the Candida haemulonii species complex

AU - de Jong, Auke W.

AU - Boden, Sander

AU - Zandijk, Annemarie

AU - Kortsinoglou, Alexandra M.

AU - Gerrits van den Ende, Bert

AU - Francisco, Elaine C.

AU - Nefeli, Podimata Konstantina

AU - Kouvelis, Vassili N.

AU - Zhou, Miaomiao

AU - Hagen, Ferry

PY - 2024/1/1

Y1 - 2024/1/1

N2 - Candida auris showed the world the ability of fungi to rapidly emerge as an urgent threat to public health. Close relatives of the Candida haemulonii complex exhibit also a similar multi-drug resistant nature and are increasingly reported as nosocomial pathogens. Here, we analyze both complete genomes assemblies and extensive phenotypic data for the five C. auris clades and pathogenic and non-pathogenic species related to the C. haemulonii species complex. First, we resolved the phylogeny of the species complex. Next, comparing C. auris to its pathogenic and non-pathogenic relatives we identified a pathogenic potential for the whole C. haemulonii species complex by shared gene content and phenotypic traits linked to drug resistance and virulence. In vivo virulence assays using the Galleria mellonella fungal infection model show that C. auris strains are significantly more virulent than any of the sibling species in the C. haemulonii complex. Phenotypic analysis links the increased virulence of C. auris to a more stress resistant phenotype compared to its siblings.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.

AB - Candida auris showed the world the ability of fungi to rapidly emerge as an urgent threat to public health. Close relatives of the Candida haemulonii complex exhibit also a similar multi-drug resistant nature and are increasingly reported as nosocomial pathogens. Here, we analyze both complete genomes assemblies and extensive phenotypic data for the five C. auris clades and pathogenic and non-pathogenic species related to the C. haemulonii species complex. First, we resolved the phylogeny of the species complex. Next, comparing C. auris to its pathogenic and non-pathogenic relatives we identified a pathogenic potential for the whole C. haemulonii species complex by shared gene content and phenotypic traits linked to drug resistance and virulence. In vivo virulence assays using the Galleria mellonella fungal infection model show that C. auris strains are significantly more virulent than any of the sibling species in the C. haemulonii complex. Phenotypic analysis links the increased virulence of C. auris to a more stress resistant phenotype compared to its siblings.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.

U2 - 10.1101/2024.05.16.594571

DO - 10.1101/2024.05.16.594571

M3 - Article

SN - The preprint server for biology

SP - 2024.05.16.594571

JO - bioRxiv

JF - bioRxiv

ER -