Cryptococcal cell morphology affects host cell interactions and pathogenicity.

Abstract

Cryptococcus neoformans is a common life-threatening human fungal pathogen. The size of cryptococcal cells is typically 5 to 10 microm. Cell enlargement was observed in vivo, producing cells up to 100 microm. These morphological changes in cell size affected pathogenicity via reducing phagocytosis by host mononuclear cells, increasing resistance to oxidative and nitrosative stress, and correlated with reduced penetration of the central nervous system. Cell enlargement was stimulated by coinfection with strains of opposite mating type, and ste3aDelta pheromone receptor mutant strains had reduced cell enlargement. Finally, analysis of DNA content in this novel cell type revealed that these enlarged cells were polyploid, uninucleate, and produced daughter cells in vivo. These results describe a novel mechanism by which C. neoformans evades host phagocytosis to allow survival of a subset of the population at early stages of infection. Thus, morphological changes play unique and specialized roles during infection.

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Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1371/journal.ppat.1000953

Publication Info

Okagaki, Laura H, Anna K Strain, Judith N Nielsen, Caroline Charlier, Nicholas J Baltes, Fabrice Chrétien, Joseph Heitman, Françoise Dromer, et al. (2010). Cryptococcal cell morphology affects host cell interactions and pathogenicity. PLoS Pathog, 6(6). p. e1000953. 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000953 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4602.

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