Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments
Abstract The emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris is notorious for environmental persistence, which is a major contributor to outbreaks in healthcare settings. Here we report that giant lipid droplets (gLDs) inside C. auris cells play critical roles in the ability to survive harsh environments. C....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08204-7 |
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| author | Qiushi Zheng Chao Li Tianren Hu Jian Bing Clarissa J. Nobile Haiqing Chu Guanghua Huang |
| author_facet | Qiushi Zheng Chao Li Tianren Hu Jian Bing Clarissa J. Nobile Haiqing Chu Guanghua Huang |
| author_sort | Qiushi Zheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris is notorious for environmental persistence, which is a major contributor to outbreaks in healthcare settings. Here we report that giant lipid droplets (gLDs) inside C. auris cells play critical roles in the ability to survive harsh environments. C. auris cells that contain gLDs exhibit an increased tolerance to environmental stresses, antifungals, and host-associated antimicrobial peptides. These cells often undergo significant cell wall remodeling and sloughing of the outer layer of the cell wall. Lipidomics analysis indicates that cells with gLDs contain a significantly higher level of triacylglycerols, sterol esters, and other lipids, such as glycerolipids, sphingolipids, and sterol lipids. At the transcriptional level, a large set of differentially expressed genes was observed between C. auris cells with and without gLDs. Our study reveals that gLDs are a new strategy used by C. auris to adapt to stressful conditions and to persist in hospital environments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0fa416895e7541f08fedfd2a7669f7de |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-0fa416895e7541f08fedfd2a7669f7de2025-08-20T02:34:19ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-05-018111410.1038/s42003-025-08204-7Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environmentsQiushi Zheng0Chao Li1Tianren Hu2Jian Bing3Clarissa J. Nobile4Haiqing Chu5Guanghua Huang6State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, and Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan UniversityState Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, and Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan UniversityDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji UniversityState Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, and Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan UniversityDepartment of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of CaliforniaDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji UniversityState Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, and Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan UniversityAbstract The emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris is notorious for environmental persistence, which is a major contributor to outbreaks in healthcare settings. Here we report that giant lipid droplets (gLDs) inside C. auris cells play critical roles in the ability to survive harsh environments. C. auris cells that contain gLDs exhibit an increased tolerance to environmental stresses, antifungals, and host-associated antimicrobial peptides. These cells often undergo significant cell wall remodeling and sloughing of the outer layer of the cell wall. Lipidomics analysis indicates that cells with gLDs contain a significantly higher level of triacylglycerols, sterol esters, and other lipids, such as glycerolipids, sphingolipids, and sterol lipids. At the transcriptional level, a large set of differentially expressed genes was observed between C. auris cells with and without gLDs. Our study reveals that gLDs are a new strategy used by C. auris to adapt to stressful conditions and to persist in hospital environments.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08204-7 |
| spellingShingle | Qiushi Zheng Chao Li Tianren Hu Jian Bing Clarissa J. Nobile Haiqing Chu Guanghua Huang Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments Communications Biology |
| title | Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| title_full | Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| title_fullStr | Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| title_short | Candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| title_sort | candida auris cells form giant lipid droplets to survive in harsh environments |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08204-7 |
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