Stimulation of Chitin Synthesis Rescues Candida albicans from Echinocandins
Figure 2
Activation of chitin synthesis by caspofungin.
Chitin synthase activity (A) and chitin content (B) of various chitin synthase, signal transduction and fks1 point mutants (fks1/FKS1 = NR2; fks1/fks1 = NR3) in the absence (empty bars) and presence (solid bars) of 0.032 µg/ml caspofungin. Isolation of NR2 and NR3 are described in Douglas et al (1997) [9]. Asterisks indicate significant differences (p<0.05) compared to the untreated control for each strain. # indicates a significant difference (p<0.05) to the wild type cells in the same growth conditions. Chitin synthase assays were performed in triplicate (average ±SD, n = 3). Cell wall chitin assays were performed five times on three biologically independent samples (average ±SD, n = 15). Time course (min) of Mkc1 phosphorylation in wild type cells in response to 0.032 µg/ml caspofungin (C). Western analysis of Chs3p levels in cells exposed to 0.032 µg/ml caspofungin, strain NGY477 carries Chs3p C-terminally tagged with YFP and BWP17 is the untagged parental strain (Table S1) (D).