M. Donovan et al., Virulence of a phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxylase-deficient Candida albicans strain in an immunosuppressed murine model of systemic candidiasis, INFEC IMMUN, 69(4), 2001, pp. 2542-2548
The relative pathogenicities of three Candida albicans strains differing in
the function of ADE2 (the gene encoding phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carbo
xylase) were evaluated in a murine candidiasis model. C. albicans strain CA
I7 (ade2/ade2), previously constructed by site-specific recombination, was
avirulent in immunosuppressed mice compared to the parent strain, CAF2-1, a
nd a heterozygous ADE2/ade2 strain obtained by transforming CAI7 with a wil
d type allele. The reduced virulence of CAI7 was correlated with the inabil
ity to proliferate in either synthetic medium or serum without the exogenou
s addition of > 10 mug of adenine/ml. The loss of virulence upon site-speci
fic disruption of the ade2 locus, and the restoration of mild-type virulenc
e with the repair of just one ade2 allele, confirmed that the ADE2 gene and
de novo purine biosynthesis were required for Candida pathogenicity. The p
otential of the phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxylase enzyme as a novel
target for antifungal drug discovery is discussed.