New Gene to Prevent Fungal Infection

• 27 Aug 2022

Why in News?

According to a recent study, researchers have identified gene called CSA6 which could hold the key to prevent fungal infection Candidiasis that often affects intensive-care unit (ICU) patients, cancer patients and patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy.

What is Candida Albicans?

• Candida Albicans is a fungal species infamous for causing high rates of morbidity and mortality under certain immuno-compromised conditions such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or during cancer treatment.
• It resides in the mucosal linings of the gastrointestinal and urogenital tract of healthy individuals.
• Further, it turns into a pathogen under immuno-compromised conditions breaching the host defense causing superficial as well as life-threatening systemic infection.

What are the Key Highlights of the Study?

• About:
  • It’s a collaborative study between Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India and Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
    • They carried out a large-scale screen to identify regulators of chromosome stability in Candida albicans, a clinically relevant fungal model system.
• Findings:
  • Researchers screened the effect of overexpression of more than a thousand genes of C. albicans on genome stability.
  • They were successful in identifying a set of six chromosome stability (CSA) genes that are important for maintaining genome integrity.
    • While five of the CSA genes identified in the study are known to be important for cell division in other species, the sixth CSA gene, named CSA6 encoded for a protein that is essential for viability in C. albicans.
    • They found that Csa6 was a critical regulator of cell cycle progression wherein both overexpression and deletion of CSA6 lead to reduced growth of C. albicans cells.
• Outcomes:
  • It identifies and elucidates the functions of a novel regulator of chromosome stability that is exclusively present in a group of medically relevant human fungal pathogens.
  • Besides, it also provides a systematic scheme for identifying genes whose products may serve as potential therapeutic interventions for fungal infections by posing lesser adverse effects on humans.
    • Hence, small molecule modulators that alter expression levels of the gene called CSA6 offer potential avenues for treatment with no side effects in humans.

Source: PIB