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Infection and Immunity, February 2007, p. 714-722, Vol. 75, No. 2
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01351-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cell Wall Targeting of Laccase of Cryptococcus neoformans during Infection of Mice

Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois,¹ Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois²

Received 22 August 2006/ Returned for modification 16 September 2006/ Accepted 1 November 2006

Laccase is a major virulence factor of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, which afflicts both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. In the present study, laccase was expressed in C. neoformans lac1 cells as a fusion protein with an N-terminal green fluorescent protein (GFP) using C. neoformans codon usage. The fusion protein was robustly localized to the cell wall at physiological pH, but it was mislocalized at low pH. Structural analysis of the laccase identified a C-terminal region unique to C. neoformans, and expression studies showed that the region was required for efficient transport to the cell wall both in vitro and during infection of mouse lungs. During infection of mice, adherence to alveolar macrophages was also associated with a partial mislocalization of GFP-laccase within cytosolic vesicles. In addition, recovery of cryptococcal cells from lungs of two strains of mice (CBA/J and Swiss Albino) later in infection was also associated with cytosolic mislocalization, but cells from the brain showed almost exclusive localization to cell walls, suggesting that there was more efficient cell wall targeting during infection of the brain. These data suggest that host cell antifungal defenses may reduce effective cell wall targeting of laccase during infection of the lung but not during infection of the brain, which may contribute to a more predominant role for the enzyme during infection of the brain.

Published ahead of print on 13 November 2006.

Editor: A. Casadevall