Morphogenesis and pathogenesis: control of cell identity in a dimorphic pathogen
Hayley E Bugeja A and Alex Andrianopoulos A BA Genetics, Genomics and Development
School of BioSciences
The University of Melbourne
Vic. 3010, Australia
B Tel: +61 3 8344 5164, Fax: +61 3 8344 5139, Email: alex.a@unimelb.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 36(2) 95-97 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA15031
Published: 19 March 2015
Abstract
Fungal pathogens span all major phylogenetic groupings within the fungal kingdom, infecting animals, plants and other fungi. Intrinsic to their ability to infect a host and survive host defense mechanisms is the capacity to produce the appropriate cell type. The link between morphogenesis and pathogenesis is clear for a number of pathogenic fungi that undergo a phase transition known as dimorphism (or dimorphic switching)1. Dimorphic fungi are able to alternate between multicellular filamentous growth, characterised by highly polarised hyphal growth, and unicellular growth with yeast cells dividing by budding or fission. This trait is strongly linked with virulence in the important human pathogens
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