The helicase CaHmi1p is required for wild-type mitochondrial DNA organization in Candida albicans

Uncovering the role of mitochondrial genome in pathogenicity and drug resistance in pathogenic fungi

Fungal infections are becoming more prevalent globally, particularly affecting immunocompromised populations, such as people living with HIV, organ transplant recipients and those on immunomodulatory therapy. Globally, approximately 6.55 million people are affected by invasive fungal infections annually, leading to serious health consequences and death. Mitochondria are membrane-bound organelles found in almost all eukaryotic cells and play an important role in cellular metabolism and energy production, including pathogenic fungi. These organelles possess their own genome, the mitochondrial genome, which is usually circular and encodes proteins essential for energy production. Variation and evolutionary adaptation within and between species' mitochondrial genomes can affect mitochondrial function, and consequently cellular energy production and metabolic activity, which may contribute to pathogenicity and drug resistance in certain fungal species. This review explores the link between the mitochondrial genome and mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance, with a particular focus on Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. These insights deepen our understanding of fungal biology and may provide new avenues for developing innovative therapeutic strategies.

RNA processing and degradation mechanisms shaping the mitochondrial transcriptome of budding yeasts

Yeast mitochondrial genes are expressed as polycistronic transcription units that contain RNAs from different classes and show great evolutionary variability. The promoters are simple, and transcriptional control is rudimentary. Posttranscriptional mechanisms involving RNA maturation, stability, and degradation are thus the main force shaping the transcriptome and determining the expression levels of individual genes. Primary transcripts are fragmented by tRNA excision by RNase P and tRNase Z, additional processing events occur at the dodecamer site at the 3' end of protein-coding sequences. groups I and II introns are excised in a self-splicing reaction that is supported by protein splicing factors encoded by the nuclear genes, or by the introns themselves. The 3'-to-5' exoribonucleolytic complex called mtEXO is the main RNA degradation activity involved in RNA turnover and processing, supported by an auxiliary 5'-to-3' exoribonuclease Pet127p. tRNAs and, to a lesser extent, rRNAs undergo several different base modifications. This complex gene expression system relies on the coordinated action of mitochondrial and nuclear genes and undergoes rapid evolution, contributing to speciation events. Moving beyond the classical model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to other budding yeasts should provide important insights into the coevolution of both genomes that constitute the eukaryotic genetic system.

UvrD-like helicase Hmi1 Has an ATP independent role in yeast mitochondrial DNA maintenance

Hmi1 is a UvrD-like DNA helicase required for the maintenance of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Deletion of the HMI1 ORF leads to the formation of respiration-deficient petite mutants, which either contain a short fragment of mtDNA arranged in tandem repeats or lack mtDNA completely. Here we characterize point mutants of the helicase designed to target the ATPase or ssDNA binding activity and show that these mutations do not separately lead to complete loss of the Hmi1 function. The mutant strains support ATP production via oxidative phosphorylation and enable us to directly analyze the impact of both activities on the stability of wild-type mtDNA in this petite-positive yeast. Our data reveal that Hmi1 mutants affecting ssDNA binding display a stronger defect in the maintenance of mtDNA compared to the mutants of ATP binding/hydrolysis. Hmi1 mutants impaired in ssDNA binding demonstrate sensitivity to UV irradiation and lower levels of Cox2 encoded by the mitochondrial genome. This suggests a complex and multifarious role for Hmi1 in mtDNA maintenance-linked transactions, some of which do not require the ATP-dependent helicase activity.

Structural analysis of the Candida albicans mitochondrial DNA maintenance factor Gcf1p reveals a dynamic DNA-bridging mechanism

The compaction of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is regulated by architectural HMG-box proteins whose limited cross-species similarity suggests diverse underlying mechanisms. Viability of Candida albicans, a human antibiotic-resistant mucosal pathogen, is compromised by altering mtDNA regulators. Among them, there is the mtDNA maintenance factor Gcf1p, which differs in sequence and structure from its human and Saccharomyces cerevisiae counterparts, TFAM and Abf2p. Our crystallographic, biophysical, biochemical and computational analysis showed that Gcf1p forms dynamic protein/DNA multimers by a combined action of an N-terminal unstructured tail and a long helix. Furthermore, an HMG-box domain canonically binds the minor groove and dramatically bends the DNA while, unprecedentedly, a second HMG-box binds the major groove without imposing distortions. This architectural protein thus uses its multiple domains to bridge co-aligned DNA segments without altering the DNA topology, revealing a new mechanism of mtDNA condensation.

The Dictyostelium discoideum homologue of Twinkle, Twm1, is a mitochondrial DNA helicase, an active primase and promotes mitochondrial DNA replication

BACKGROUND

DNA replication requires contributions from various proteins, such as DNA helicases; in mitochondria Twinkle is important for maintaining and replicating mitochondrial DNA. Twinkle helicases are predicted to also possess primase activity, as has been shown in plants; however this activity appears to have been lost in metazoans. Given this, the study of Twinkle in other organisms is required to better understand the evolution of this family and the roles it performs within mitochondria.

RESULTS

Here we describe the characterization of a Twinkle homologue, Twm1, in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, a model organism for mitochondrial genetics and disease. We show that Twm1 is important for mitochondrial function as it maintains mitochondrial DNA copy number in vivo. Twm1 is a helicase which unwinds DNA resembling open forks, although it can act upon substrates with a single 3' overhang, albeit less efficiently. Furthermore, unlike human Twinkle, Twm1 has primase activity in vitro. Finally, using a novel in bacterio approach, we demonstrated that Twm1 promotes DNA replication.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that Twm1 is a replicative mitochondrial DNA helicase which is capable of priming DNA for replication. Our results also suggest that non-metazoan Twinkle could function in the initiation of mitochondrial DNA replication. While further work is required, this study has illuminated several alternative processes of mitochondrial DNA maintenance which might also be performed by the Twinkle family of helicases.

Loss of Ssq1 leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, activation of autophagy and cell cycle arrest due to iron overload triggered by mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster assembly defects in Candida albicans

Iron-sulfur clusters perform essential functions in enzymatic catalysis and homeostatic regulation. Here we for the first time identified Ssq1 as an essential component for iron-sulfur cluster assembly in Candida albicans. Ssq1 played an important role in cell growth. Shutting off SSQ1 led to accumulation of intracellular iron, especially in mitochondria, and disorder of intracellular iron regulation. In tetO-SSQ1, iron overloading triggered the oxidative damage of mitochondrial function. Surprisingly, disruption of SSQ1 activated autophagic pathway. The mitochondrial dysfunction was further aggravated when CCZ1 (which is essential for autophagy) and SSQ1 was simultaneously deleted, suggesting that autophagy played a critical role in maintenance of mitochondrial function in tetO-SSQ1. In addition, double deletion of SSQ1 and CCZ1 further elevated cellular iron levels in comparison with tetO-SSQ1, indicating that autophagy participated in maintenance of iron homeostasis. Furthermore, we found that loss of SSQ1 led to increasing protein expression of Rnr1 and redistribution of Rnr2 from the nucleus to cytoplasm, and further resulted in cell cycle arrest. The results implied that cell cycle arrest was caused by activating the checkpoint pathway because of impairing the iron-sulfur cluster assembly in tetO-SSQ1. Shutting off SSQ1 led to a significant defect in filamentous development. Interestingly, the tetO-SSQ1ccz1Δ/Δ growth was inhibited on hyphae-inducing solid media. Both tetO-SSQ1 and tetO-SSQ1ccz1Δ/Δ exhibited extremely attenuated virulence, indicating that Ssq1 might provide a promising target for antifungal drugs development. In summary, our findings provide new insights into the understanding of iron-sulfur cluster assembly-related gene in C. albicans.

The transcriptome of Candida albicans mitochondria and the evolution of organellar transcription units in yeasts

Background

Yeasts show remarkable variation in the organization of their mitochondrial genomes, yet there is little experimental data on organellar gene expression outside few model species. Candida albicans is interesting as a human pathogen, and as a representative of a clade that is distant from the model yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Unlike them, it encodes seven Complex I subunits in its mtDNA. No experimental data regarding organellar expression were available prior to this study.

Methods

We used high-throughput RNA sequencing and traditional RNA biology techniques to study the mitochondrial transcriptome of C. albicans strains BWP17 and SN148.

Results

The 14 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 24 tRNA genes are expressed as eight primary polycistronic transcription units. We also found transcriptional activity in the noncoding regions, and antisense transcripts that could be a part of a regulatory mechanism. The promoter sequence is a variant of the nonanucleotide identified in other yeast mtDNAs, but some of the active promoters show significant departures from the consensus. The primary transcripts are processed by a tRNA punctuation mechanism into the monocistronic and bicistronic mature RNAs. The steady state levels of various mature transcripts exhibit large differences that are a result of posttranscriptional regulation. Transcriptome analysis allowed to precisely annotate the positions of introns in the RNL (2), COB (2) and COX1 (4) genes, as well as to refine the annotation of tRNAs and rRNAs. Comparative study of the mitochondrial genome organization in various Candida species indicates that they undergo shuffling in blocks usually containing 2–3 genes, and that their arrangement in primary transcripts is not conserved. tRNA genes with their associated promoters, as well as GC-rich sequence elements play an important role in these evolutionary events.

Conclusions

The main evolutionary force shaping the mitochondrial genomes of yeasts is the frequent recombination, constantly breaking apart and joining genes into novel primary transcription units. The mitochondrial transcription units are constantly rearranged in evolution shaping the features of gene expression, such as the presence of secondary promoter sites that are inactive, or act as “booster” promoters, simplified transcriptional regulation and reliance on posttranscriptional mechanisms.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-2078-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Replication intermediates of the linear mitochondrial DNA of Candida parapsilosis suggest a common recombination based mechanism for yeast mitochondria

Variation in the topology of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in eukaryotes evokes the question if differently structured DNAs are replicated by a common mechanism. RNA-primed DNA synthesis has been established as a mechanism for replicating the circular animal/mammalian mtDNA. In yeasts, circular mtDNA molecules were assumed to be templates for rolling circle DNA-replication. We recently showed that in Candida albicans, which has circular mapping mtDNA, recombination driven replication is a major mechanism for replicating a complex branched mtDNA network. Careful analyses of C. albicans-mtDNA did not reveal detectable amounts of circular DNA molecules. In the present study we addressed the question of how the unit sized linear mtDNA of Candida parapsilosis terminating at both ends with arrays of tandem repeats (mitochondrial telomeres) is replicated. Originally, we expected to find replication intermediates diagnostic of canonical bi-directional replication initiation at the centrally located bi-directional promoter region. However, we found that the linear mtDNA of Candida parapsilosis also employs recombination for replication initiation. The most striking findings were that the mitochondrial telomeres appear to be hot spots for recombination driven replication, and that stable RNA:DNA hybrids, with a potential role in mtDNA replication, are also present in the mtDNA preparations.

Mitochondrial sorting and assembly machinery subunit Sam37 in Candida albicans: insight into the roles of mitochondria in fitness, cell wall integrity, and virulence

Recent studies indicate that mitochondrial functions impinge on cell wall integrity, drug tolerance, and virulence of human fungal pathogens. However, the mechanistic aspects of these processes are poorly understood. We focused on the mitochondrial outer membrane SAM (Sorting and Assembly Machinery) complex subunit Sam37 in Candida albicans. Inactivation of SAM37 in C. albicans leads to a large reduction in fitness, a phenotype not conserved with the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our data indicate that slow growth of the sam37ΔΔ mutant results from mitochondrial DNA loss, a new function for Sam37 in C. albicans, and from reduced activity of the essential SAM complex subunit Sam35. The sam37ΔΔ mutant was hypersensitive to drugs that target the cell wall and displayed altered cell wall structure, supporting a role for Sam37 in cell wall integrity in C. albicans. The sensitivity of the mutant to membrane-targeting antifungals was not significantly altered. The sam37ΔΔ mutant was avirulent in the mouse model, and bioinformatics showed that the fungal Sam37 proteins are distant from their animal counterparts and could thus represent potential drug targets. Our study provides the first direct evidence for a link between mitochondrial function and cell wall integrity in C. albicans and is further relevant for understanding mitochondrial function in fitness, antifungal drug tolerance, and virulence of this major pathogen. Beyond the relevance to fungal pathogenesis, this work also provides new insight into the mitochondrial and cellular roles of the SAM complex in fungi.

Goa1p of Candida albicans localizes to the mitochondria during stress and is required for mitochondrial function and virulence

Using a Tn7 transposon library of Candida albicans, we have identified a mutant that exhibited sensitivity in drop plate assays to oxidants such as menadione and hydrogen peroxide. To verify the role of the mutated gene in stress adaptation, null mutants were constructed and phenotypically characterized. Because of its apparent functions in growth and oxidant adaptation, we have named the gene GOA1. Goa1p appears to be unique to the CTG subclade of the Saccharomycotina, including C. albicans. Mutants of C. albicans lacking goa1 (strain GOA31) were more sensitive to 6 mM H(2)O(2) and 0.125 mM menadione than the wild type (wt) or a gene-reconstituted (GOA32) strain. The sensitivity to oxidants correlated with reduced survival of the GOA31 mutant in human neutrophils and avirulence compared to control strains. Other phenotypes of GOA31 include reduced growth and filamentation in 10% serum, Spider, and SLAD agar media and an inability to form chlamydospores. Since Goa1p has an N-terminal mitochondrion localization site, we also show that green fluorescent protein-tagged Goa1p shows a mitochondrionlike distribution during oxidant or osmotic stress. Further, the inability of GOA31 to grow in medium containing lactate, ethanol, or glycerol as the sole carbon source indicates that the mitochondria are defective in the mutant. To determine how Goa1p contributes to mitochondrial function, we compared the wt, GOA32, and GOA31 strains for mitochondrial electrical membrane potential, respiration, and oxidative phosphorylation. We now show that GOA31, but not the wt or GOA32, had decreased respiration and mitochondrial membrane potential such that mutant cells are unable to drive oxidative phosphorylation. This is the first report in C. albicans of a respiratory defect caused by a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential.

Mammalian mitochondrial nucleoids: Organizing an independently minded genome

Mitochondrial DNA is arranged in nucleoprotein complexes, or nucleoids. Nucleoid proteins include not only factors involved in replication and transcription but also structural proteins required for mitochondrial DNA maintenance. Although several nucleoid proteins have been identified and characterized in yeast over the course of the past decade, little was known of mammalian mitochondrial nucleoids until recently. Two publications in the past year have expanded considerably the pool of putative mammalian mitochondrial nucleoid proteins; and analysis of one of the candidates, ATAD3p, suggests that mitochondrial nucleoid formation and division are orchestrated, not random, events.