Author(s): Thornbury M; Omran RP; Kumar L; Knoops A; Abushahin R; Whiteway M; Martin VJJ;

Organic acids such as fumaric acid are widely used in the food and beverage industry as acidulants and preservatives, while also serving as versatile precursors for industrially relevant compounds. Fumaric acid is still predominantly produced through petroleum-derived processes. To enhance production efficiency and diversify supply, we are engineering Klu ...

Article GUID: 41277095

Author(s): Iwuchukwu NC; Costa ACBPD; Law C; Kim MJ; Mitchell AP; Whiteway M;

The opportunistic human pathogen Candida albicans is an important cause of nosocomial infections, in large part because of its propensity to form biofilms on indwelling medical devices such as catheters. The formation of these biofilms is controlled by a complex transcriptional network and involves over a thousand genes, many of which are uncharacterized. ...

Article GUID: 41218072

Author(s): Li W; Whiteway M; Hang S; Yu J; Lu H; Jiang Y;

Azole effectiveness against candidiasis can be compromised by Candida albicans resistance and tolerance, and unfortunately, few clinically useful compounds can enhance azole antifungal activities. We find that the amino acids V234, F235 and L238 of Erg11 are critical for its interaction with Ncp1, and the Ncp1-Erg11 association is important in azole respo ...

Article GUID: 40707518

Author(s): Thornbury M; Knoops A; Summerby-Murray I; Dhaliwal J; Johnson S; Utomo JC; Joshi J; Narcross L; Remondetto G; Pouliot M; Whiteway M; Martin VJJ;

The use of genetically modified nonconventional yeast provides significant potential for the bioeconomy by diversifying the tools available for the development of sustainable and novel products. In this study, we sequenced and annotated the genome of Kluyveromyces marxianus Y-1190 to establish it ...

Article GUID: 40629255

Author(s): Shrivastava M; Whiteway M;

In recent decades, the study of the opportunistic pathogenic fungus, Candida albicans, has been revolutionized by genomics, transforming our understanding of its molecular biology, pathogenicity, and modes of drug resistance. In this review, our effort is to trace the historical development of C. albicans research, from early clinical observations to mode ...

Article GUID: 40522159

Author(s): Zhen C; Wang L; Feng Y; Whiteway M; Hang S; Yu J; Lu H; Jiang Y;

Candidiasis, which presents a substantial risk to human well-being, is frequently treated with azoles. However, drug-drug interactions caused by azoles inhibiting the human CYP3A4 enzyme, together with increasing resistance of Candida species to azoles, represent serious issues with this class of drug, making it imperative to develop innovative antifungal ...

Article GUID: 38995235

Author(s): Li W; Feng Y; Feng Z; Wang L; Whiteway M; Lu H; Jiang Y;

Fluconazole (FLC) is extensively employed for the prophylaxis and treatment of invasive fungal infections (IFIs). However, the fungistatic nature of FLC renders pathogenic fungi capable of developing tolerance towards it. Consequently, converting FLC into a fungicidal agent using adjuvants assumes significance to circumvent FLC resistance and the perpetua ...

Article GUID: 38929106

Author(s): Li J; Yang S; Wu Y; Wang R; Liu Y; Liu J; Ye Z; Tang R; Whiteway M; Lv Q; Yan L;

In the respiratory chain of the majority of aerobic organisms, the enzyme alternative oxidase (AOX) functions as the terminal oxidase and has important roles in maintaining metabolic and signaling homeostasis in mitochondria. AOX endows the respiratory system with flexibility in the coupling among the carbon metabolism pathway, electron transport chain (E ...

Article GUID: 38524433

Author(s): Feng Y; Lu H; Whiteway M; Jiang Y;

Fluconazole (FLC) tolerant phenotypes in Candida species contribute to persistent candidemia and the emergence of FLC resistance. Therefore, making FLC fungicidal and eliminating FLC tolerance are important for treating invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) caused by Candida species. However, the mechanisms of FLC tolerance in Candida species remain to be fully ...

Article GUID: 37918789

Author(s): Dumeaux V; Massahi S; Bettauer V; Mottola A; Dukovny A; Khurdia SS; Costa ACBP; Omran RP; Simpson S; Xie JL; Whiteway M; Berman J; Hallett MT;

Candida albicans, an opportunistic human pathogen, poses a significant threat to human health and is associated with significant socio-economic burden. Current antifungal treatments fail, at least in part, because C. albicans can initiate a strong drug tolerance response that allows some cells to ...

Article GUID: 37888959

Author(s): Shrivastava M; Kouyoumdjian GS; Kirbizakis E; Ruiz D; Henry M; Vincent AT; Sellam A; Whiteway M;

Transcription factors (TFs) play key roles in cellular regulation and are critical in the control of drug resistance in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. We found that activation of the transcription factor C4_02500C_A (Adr1) conferred significant resistance against fluconazole. In Saccharomy ...

Article GUID: 37791798