Date: 19.05.2016
Biofilm and drug tolerance in yeasts
Birgitte Regenberg, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark will briefly summarize the current understanding of how fungal pathogens can form drug persistent biofilms without heritable resistance mutations. The seminar take place on Thursday 19th May 2016 at 13 pm in the Meeting room of the Animal Building, 2nd floor, Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, Branišovská 31, Č. Budějovice.
Fungal infections tolerant to antifungal treatment have become a major medical problem. One mechanism leading to drug recalcitrance is the formation of antifungal persister cells. Persister cells have wild type genotype with the ability to survive exposure to antifungal agents due to changed membrane composition, upregulated stress response and enhanced cell wall integrity. Knowledge of the mechanisms regulating entry and exit of the persister phenotype is limited, but we have recently been shown that inhibition of the growth regulating TORC1 pathway induce fungal persistence. The phenotypic properties of persister cells and the involvement of the TORC1 pathway indicate that persister cells are quiescent in G0 of the cell cycle. This knowledge leads us to suggest that infectious Ascomycetes yeast that are tolerant towards antifungal treatment can be treated by targeting dormant cells in G0 of the cell cycle.
The lecture is supported by the Foundation of the city České Budějovice for Education and Science.
