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Morphology Changes in Human Fungal Pathogens upon Interaction with the Host

Zhongming Li1, Kirsten Nielsen1

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunity, Medical School, University of Minnesota, 689 23rd Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 16, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Human fungal pathogens change shape to survive in the body. These diverse morphological changes, including yeast-to-hyphae transitions and specialized reproductive structures, are key to causing disease.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Mycology
  • Pathogen Biology
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions

Background:

  • Pathogenic fungi exhibit diverse morphological changes to survive within mammalian hosts.
  • These shape-shifting strategies are crucial for fungal virulence and disease establishment.
  • Examples include Candida albicans yeast-hyphae switching and dimorphism in Histoplasma capsulatum.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the diverse morphological changes employed by human fungal pathogens.
  • To highlight the association between morphology and fungal virulence.
  • To examine the stimuli and mechanisms driving these transformations in the host environment.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of fungal morphology and virulence studies.
  • Analysis of morphological adaptations across various human pathogenic fungi.
  • Focus on yeast, hyphae, spherules, cysts, and titan cells.

Main Results:

  • Fungi like Candida albicans switch between yeast and hyphal forms.
  • Dimorphic fungi transform from hyphae to yeast in response to host cues.
  • Coccidioides and Pneumocystis form specialized structures for reproduction, while Cryptococcus alters yeast cell size.

Conclusions:

  • Diverse fungal morphologies are essential for evading host immunity and causing infection.
  • Understanding these changes provides insights into fungal pathogenesis.
  • Targeting morphological transitions could offer novel therapeutic strategies against fungal diseases.
Keywords:
host-pathogen interactionhuman fungal pathogenhyphaemorphology changespherulestitan cell

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