Calcium stimulates molecular and cellular events during the yeast-to-mycelium transition in Sporothrix schenckii

Development and evaluation of a rapid diagnostic method for Sporothrix globosa in Asia using quantitative real-time PCR

BACKGROUND

Sporotrichosis is a chronic granulomatous infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue that can affect any organ through lymphatic spread. The prevalence of sporotrichosis infections is increasing and its treatment is challenging as there are no unified and standard diagnostic techniques or antifungal medications. Controlling further spread requires a rapid diagnosis. Assessment of clinical symptoms, histological analysis, serological testing, and pathogen culture are all necessary for the diagnosis of sporotrichosis. However, these procedures are unable to identify the species. The development of safe, reliable, and species-specific diagnostic techniques is essential.

OBJECTIVE

To establish and evaluate a new quantitative real-time PCR assay for the rapid diagnosis of sporotrichosis and to identify relevant species.

METHODS

Polymorphisms in calmodulin (CAL) gene sequences and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) were used in a quantitative real-time PCR assay to identify S. globosa, S. schenckii, and non-target species.

RESULTS

The quantitative real-time PCR assay had 100% sensitivity and specificity. The limit of detection was 6 fg/µl. Thirty-four clinical specimens were verified to be infected with S. globosa with a 100% positive detection rate.

CONCLUSIONS

The quantitative PCR technique developed in this study is a quick, accurate, and targeted method of identifying S. globosa based on polymorphisms in CAL sequences and ITS. It can be used for a prompt clinical diagnosis to identify S. globosa in clinical specimens from patients with sporotrichosis.

Sporothrix schenckii and Sporotrichosis

Sporotrichosis, which is caused by the dimorphic fungus Sporothrix schenckii, is currently distributed throughout the world, especially in tropical and subtropical zones. Infection generally occurs by traumatic inoculation of soil, plants, and organic matter contaminated with the fungus. Certain leisure and occupational activities, such as floriculture, agriculture, mining, and wood exploitation, are traditionally associated with the mycosis. Zoonotic transmission has been described in isolated cases or in small outbreaks. Since the end of the 1990s there has been an epidemic of sporotrichosis associated with transmission by cats in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 2,000 human cases and 3,000 animal cases have been reported. In humans, the lesions are usually restricted to the skin, subcutaneous cellular tissue, and adjacent lymphatic vessels. In cats, the disease can evolve with severe clinical manifestations and frequent systemic involvement. The gold standard for sporotrichosis diagnosis is culture. However, serological, histopathological, and molecular approaches have been recently adopted as auxiliary tools for the diagnosis of this mycotic infection. The first-choice treatment for both humans and cats is itraconazole.

Expression of a Pho85 cyclin-dependent kinase is repressed during the dimorphic transition in Sporothrix schenckii

Sporothrix schenckii is a pathogenic fungus that undergoes a dimorphic transition from yeast to mycelium in response to environmental conditions such as cell density, temperature, and calcium. We identified a homolog of the Pho85 cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) that mediates cellular responses to environmental conditions in other organisms. By Western blot, three proteins containing the PSTAIRE motif, which characterize the cyclin-dependent protein kinases, were identified in S. schenckii. The gene encoding a Pho85 homolog, PhoSs, was identified and sequenced. The phoSs gene consists of 990bp, contains one intron, and encodes a protein of 306 amino acids. The S. schenckii Pho85 homolog shares features with Cdks, including the PSTAIRE motif, an ATP binding domain, and a serine-threonine kinase domain. By quantitative competitive RT-PCR, expression of the phoSs gene was found to decrease 30-fold during the yeast to mycelium transition. The addition of extracellular calcium accelerated the dimorphic transition and restored phoSs expression. These findings suggest PhoSs may participate in the control of the yeast to mycelium transition in S. schenckii.

Characterization of a protein kinase C gene in Sporothrix schenckii and its expression during the yeast-to-mycelium transition

The yeast-to-mycelium transition in Sporothrix schenckii has been shown to respond to protein kinase C (PKC) effectors, indicating the involvement of PKC in this regulation. In this study, we identified the presence of two pkcl-like genes in S. schenckii. Using fungal genomic DNA as template and primers targeted to conserved sequences in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pkc1 gene, two partially overlapping extra long polymerase chain reaction (XL-PCR) products were obtained. These XL-PCR products were sequenced and found to encode part of the C3/C4 domains of two different PKC-like proteins. The presence of two different genes was confirmed by Southern blot analysis. These two genes were named pkcSs-1 and pkcSs-2. The sequence of the pkcSs-2 gene was completed and revealed an open reading frame of 3942 nucleotides interrupted by five introns. A transcript of 8.7 kb was detected in northern blot analysis of poly A+ RNA. The pkcSs-2 gene encodes a protein of 1194 amino acids and 132.84 kDa that contains the characteristic structure and domains of other fungal PKCs reported to date. Using reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), the pkcSs-2 gene was found to be expressed at all intervals tested during the yeast-to-mycelium transition.

Cell cycle effects of the phenothiazines: trifluoperazine and chlorpromazine in Candida albicans

The study demonstrates the in vitro effectiveness of phenothiazine compounds, i.e. chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine against Candida albicans. Anticandidal effect of these drugs is suggested to be because of their interaction with Ca(2+)/calmodulin dependent protein phosphorylation. 3H-thymidine uptake studies revealed that both these compounds affect the DNA synthesis along with decrease in activities of nuclear calmodulin (CaM) and Ca(2+)/calmodulin dependent protein kinase (CaMPK). Failure in cell growth was due to defect in CaM mediated cell cycle arrest. Flow cytometric analysis showed that progression through G(1) and mitotic phase was affected when cells after alpha-factor arrest were grown in the presence of chlorpromazine or trifluoperazine. These drugs also produced significant decline in the cellular lipids and phospholipids. 14C-acetate incorporation studies further substantiated these results. We suggest that chlorpromazine or trifluoperazine affect the cell cycle through DNA synthesis (S phase) and cell division phases which are governed by calmodulin and Ca(2+)/calmodulin dependent protein phosphorylation and lipids and phospholipids appear to be additional targets of phenothiazine compounds in C. albicans. These results will have important significance in the development of new anticandidal compounds.

Effect of pH, carbon source and K+ on the Na+-inhibited germ tube formation of Candida albicans

The effect of pH, carbon source and K+ on the Na+ -inhibited germ tube formation of the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans was examined in the arginine-phosphate modified (APM) medium. All C. albicans cells formed germ tubes in APM medium at pH 5.0-9.0. Na+ inhibited germ tube formation in a concentration dependent manner ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 M, and was further influenced by the pH of the medium. The inhibitory effect of Na+ was lowest at pH 8.0, and germ tube formation ceased at 1.0 M Na+ for any pH (4.0-9.0). At pH > or = 6.0, non-germ tube-forming cells did not show yeast growth; whereas at pH < or = 5.0, Na+ inhibited only germ tube formation but did not inhibit yeast growth. The inhibitory effect of Na+ was stronger in glucose medium than in galactose medium as carbon source. K+, at 0-0.8 M, had almost no effect on germ tube formation. However, in the presence of Na+, a very low concentration of K+ (0.5 mM) was able to release the cells from Na+ arrest and produced an increase in the rate as well as the percentage of germ tube formation. Intracellular Na+/K+ ratios increased with the increase in extracellular Na+ concentration, whereas the ratios decreased and remained within nontoxic levels when the extracellular K+ concentration was increased.

Dermatophyte lipids-Composition and regulation of phospholipids

This review presents the extensive work carried out on lipid components of dermatophytes, their biosynthesis, turnover and regulation. It emerges from the work done so far that the pathways of lipid biosynthesis/ degradation and the lipid composition in dermatophytes are similar to those in yeasts and other fungi. Second messengers (Ca(2+), cAMP) were demonstrated to have a regulatory role in phospholipid metabolism and they mainly act by stimulating Ca(2+)/CaM or cAMP dependent protein kinase(s). Both these kinases were purified and characterized inMicrosporum gypseum. Further work is being carried out to elucidate the molecular mechanism of regulation of phospholipid metabolism by these second messengers.

Presence of a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein alpha subunit in Sporothrix schenckii

As an initial step in the study of the role of G proteins in signal transduction in Sporothrix schenckii, we identified a Galphai subunit using different experimental approaches. Western blots of fungal membrane preparations using anti-Galphacommon and anti-Galphai1-Galphai2 antibodies identified a band of approximately 41 kDa. Pertussis toxin-catalyzed adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylation of these membrane fractions confirmed the presence of a protein substrate of 41 kDa. A 357 bp polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product obtained using fungal DNA as template and primers targeted to conserved Galphai sequences, was used as a probe to isolate a clone from an S. schenckii genomic library. A partial sequence for a Galphai subunit was obtained from this clone. The sequence was completed using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) technique with mycelium and yeast cDNA. The cDNA sequence revealed a 1059 bp open reading frame encoding a 353 amino acid Galphai subunit of 41 kDa, more than 90% identical to the CPG-1 of Cryphonectria parasitica, and GNA-1 of Neurospora crassa. The genomic sequence was obtained by PCR using fungal DNA, and revealed a 1250 bp sequence and the presence of three introns. These results provide evidence for the first time of the presence and expression of a Galphai homolog in a pathogenic dimorphic fungus.

Possible involvement of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase in the regulation of phospholipid biosynthesis in Microsporum gypseum

The mechanism of action of Ca2+/calmodulin on phospholipid synthesis in Microsporum gypseum has been studied. These second messengers were observed to mediate their function through phosphorylation mechanism as altered protein kinase activity was seen in calcium/trifluoperazine (calmodulin antagonist) grown cells. The activity of protein kinase was dependent on calcium (200 microm) and calmodulin (1 microm). In vitro studies of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation in relation to phospholipid synthesis in Microsporum gypseum have been carried out. Addition of KN-62 (a specific inhibitor of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases) and polyclonal antibodies raised against purified Ca2+/calmodulin-kinase (CaMPK) of M. gypseum in the cell extract, leads to the inhibition in the incorporation of labelled acetate into total phospholipids in this fungus. These results suggest a possible involvement of Ca2+/calmodulin via Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphorylation in phospholipid synthesis in M. gypseum.

Different protein kinase C isoforms are present in the yeast and mycelium forms of Sporothrix schenckii

Protein kinase C (PKC) plays an important role in the control of proliferation and differentiation of a wide range of cell types, and fungi are no exception. Previous results reported by us on the effects of the phorbol ester, 12-myristate-13-acetate phorbol (PMA) and other PKC effector molecules, on dimorphism in Sporothrix schenckii suggested the presence of this enzyme in the fungus and its involvement in the control of morphogenetic transitions. The work summarized here confirms the presence of PKC in yeast and mycelium extracts of S. schenckii. Different isoforms of this enzyme were found to be present in the yeast and mycelium forms of the fungus and were identified by Western blot analysis using affinity purified anti-PKC isoforms specific antibodies: the gamma and zeta isoforms were detected in both the yeast and mycelium forms of the fungus, while the beta isoform was only detected in the yeast form. The presence of PKC was confirmed biochemically by measuring total enzyme activity in both forms of the fungus. No significant differences were observed for the PKC activity level recorded for both the mycelium and yeast forms of the fungus (p < or = 0.05). These data confirm the presence of PKC activity in Sporothrix schenckii and constitutes the first evidence concerning the differential expression of PKC isoforms in the mycelium and yeast forms of a dimorphic fungus, supporting the possible involvement of this important signal transduction enzyme in the control of morphogenesis in this fungus.

Possible role of calcium in phospholipid synthesis of Microsporum gypseum

The effect of calcium on lipid synthesis in Microsporum gypseum was examined by growing these cells in calcium supplemented (1 mM to 10 mM) medium. Maximum incorporation of [14C]acetate into total lipids and phospholipids was observed in cells grown with 6 mM calcium. This was probably due to a 3-fold increase in total calcium levels as incorporation of label was inhibited in total lipids (33%) and phospholipids (20.5%) in calcium-grown cells which were preincubated with the calcium specific chelator ethylene glycolbis (beta-aminoethyl ester) N,N,N',N',-tetracetate (EGTA). Increased incorporation of [14C]acetate into phospholipids was further supported by increase in the activity of key phospholipid biosynthetic enzymes (glycerolkinase and glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase) as well as the increase in phospholipid content in calcium-grown cells, which suggests a correlation between increased calcium levels and phospholipid biosynthesis in M. gypseum.