Diverse species in the genus Cryptococcus: Pathogens and their non-pathogenic ancestors

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Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
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Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Published on: March 19, 2015

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Shelly Gupta1, Karan Paul2, Sukhmanjot Kaur1

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, Lovely Professional University, Kapurthala, India.

IUBMB Life
|September 8, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Cryptococcus pathogens cause over 200,000 deaths annually from meningoencephalitis. This review explores their evolution, virulence, and phylogenetic relationships, including codon usage bias in pathogenic and non-pathogenic species.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • The genus Cryptococcus includes over 30 species, with the Cryptococcus neoformans/Cryptococcus gattii species complex being clinically significant.
  • These fungi are responsible for over 200,000 annual deaths due to cryptococcal meningoencephalitis.
  • Understanding the evolution of pathogenic Cryptococcus species from non-pathogenic relatives is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the sexual reproduction, key attributes, and virulence mechanisms of pathogenic Cryptococcus species.
  • To analyze phylogenetic studies and evolutionary divergence between pathogenic and non-pathogenic species.
  • To present recent findings on codon usage bias in pathogenic and non-pathogenic Cryptococcus species.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of sexual reproduction and virulence factors.
  • Phylogenetic analysis to understand evolutionary divergence.
  • Analysis of codon usage bias in six pathogenic and three non-pathogenic species.

Main Results:

  • Detailed descriptions of pathogenic Cryptococcus species' attributes and virulence mechanisms.
  • Phylogenetic studies highlight the evolutionary divergence of pathogens from non-pathogens.
  • Codon usage bias analysis provides insights corroborating phylogenetic findings.

Conclusions:

  • The review synthesizes current knowledge on Cryptococcus evolution, pathogenicity, and phylogeny.
  • Understanding evolutionary divergence aids in comprehending virulence and disease mechanisms.
  • Codon usage bias analysis offers a novel perspective on evolutionary relationships within the genus.
Keywords:
Cryptococcuscodon usagedivergenceevolutionaryinfectionpathogenicspecies

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