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Published on: November 8, 2006
On the Roles of Calcineurin in Fungal Growth and Pathogenesis
Ying-Lien Chen1, Lukasz Kozubowski1, Maria Cardenas-Corona1
1Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University, Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
None:
Calcineurin is a calcium-activated phosphatase that controls morphogenesis and stress responses in eukaryotes. Fungal pathogens have adopted the calcineurin pathway to survive and effectively propagate within the host. The difficulty in treating fungal infections stems from similarities between pathogen and host eukaryotic cells. Use of calcineurin inhibitors such as cyclosporin A (CsA) or tacrolimus (FK506) in combination with antifungal drugs including azoles or echinocandins renders these drugs fungicidal, even towards drug-resistant species/strains, making calcineurin a promising drug target. Here we summarize the current understanding of the calcineurin pathway and its roles in governing growth and virulence of pathogenic fungi. We compare and contrast roles of calcineurin in fungal pathogens that infect humans (Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans) or plants (Magnaporthe oryzae and Ustilago maydis). Further investigation of calcineurin biology will advance opportunities to develop novel antifungal therapeutic approaches and provide insight into the evolution of virulence.
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