Candida albicans CFL1 encodes a functional ferric reductase activity that can rescue a Saccharomyces cerevisiae fre1 mutant

Candida albicans. like other pathogens, has to compete with the host for a limited supply of available iron. Consequently, iron acquisition is likely to be an important factor for the growth, survival and virulence of this or ganism. It was previously demonstrated that C. albicans has a surface-assoc iated ferric reductase similar to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Therefo re, functional rescue of a S. cerevisiae fre1 mutant was used to isolate a C. albicans ferric reductase gene (CFL1). This gene has been previously ide ntified. However, the workers had not observed any functional reductase act ivity associated with the gene. The discrepancy with the findings in this r eport appears to be due to the clone previously reported carrying a non-con tiguous piece of C. albicans DNA. Results shown in this paper demonstrate t hat CFL1 transcription is regulated in response to levels of iron and coppe r. This is the first demonstration of a functional ferric reductase gene fr om C. albicans.