Phenotypic switching in Candida glabrata involves phase-specific regulation of the metallothionein gene MT-II and the newly discovered hemolysin geneHLP

Although Candida glabrata has emerged in recent years as a major fungal pat hogen, there have been no reports demonstrating that it undergoes either th e bud-hypha transition or high-frequency phenotypic switching, two developm ental programs believed to contribute to the pathogenic success of other Ca ndida species. Here it is demonstrated that C. glabrata undergoes reversibl e, high-frequency phenotypic switching between a white (Wh), light brown (L B), and dark brown (DB) colony phenotype discriminated on an indicator agar containing 1 mM CuSO4. Switching regulates the transcript level of the MT- II metallothionein gene(s) and a newly discovered gene for a hemolysin-like protein, HLP. The relative MT-II transcript levels in Wh, LB, and DB cells grown in the presence of CuSO4 are 1:27:81, and the relative transcript le vels of HLP are 1:20:35. The relative MT-II and HLP transcript levels in ce lls grown in the absence of CuSO4 are 1:20:30 and 1:20:25, respectively. In contrast, switching has little or no effect on the transcript levels of th e genes MT-I, AMT-I, TRPI, HIS3, EPAI, and PDHI. Switching of C. glabrata i s not associated with microevolutionary changes identified by the DNA finge rprinting probe Cg6 and does not involve tandem amplification of the MT-IIa gene, which has been shown to occur in response to elevated levels of copp er. Finally, switching between Wh, LB, and DB occurred in all four clinical isolates examined in this study. As in Candida albicans, switching in C. g labrata may provide colonizing populations with phenotypic plasticity for r apid responses to the changing physiology of the host, antibiotic treatment , and the immune response, through the differential regulation of genes inv olved in pathogenesis. More importantly, because C. glabrata is haploid, a mutational analysis of switching is now feasible.