Identification and analysis of ferric reductase genes in C. albicans

In this study a further 15 ferric reductases were identified in the C. albicans genome sequence. The expression of a number of these reductases was examined and CaFRE10 and CaFRE12 shown to be the most highly expressed of those detected. Levels of CaFRE10 transcript increase in response to iron limitation in a manner that is not dependent on the presence of CaAftp. In contrast, CaFRE12 transcript levels increase in response to copper limitation in a CaMaclp dependent manner. The pattern of CaFRE12 expression and sequence comparisons suggest that it is a homologue of the intracellular reductase ScFre7p. Null mutants of CaFRE2, CaFRE5, and CaFRE10 were created during their analysed for phenotypes that were consistent with defects in iron and copper uptake and metabolism. In this study a further 15 ferric reductases were identified in the C. albicans genome sequence. The expression of a number of these reductases was examined and CaFRE10 and CaFRE12 shown to be the most highly expressed of those detected. Levels of CaFRE10 transcript increase in response to iron limitation in a manner that is not dependent on the presence of CaAftp. In contrast, CaFRE12 transcript levels increase in response to copper limitation in a CaMaclp dependent manner. The pattern of CaFRE12 expression and sequence comparisons suggest that it is a homologue of the intracellular reductase ScFre7p. Null mutants of CaFRE2, CaFRE5, and CaFRE10 were created during their analysed for phenotypes that were consistent with defects in iron and copper uptake and metabolism.