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Infect Immun, May 1998, p. 1953-1961, Vol. 66, No. 5
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Cloning and Sequencing of a Candida
albicans Catalase Gene and Effects of Disruption of This
Gene
Deborah R.
Wysong,1,2
Laurent
Christin,1
Alan M.
Sugar,1
Phillips W.
Robbins,2 and
Richard
D.
Diamond1,*
Evans Memorial Department of Clinical
Research and the Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious
Diseases, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
02118,1 and
Center for Cancer Research,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
021392
Received 19 June 1997/Returned for modification 5 August
1997/Accepted 25 February 1998
Catalase plays a key role as an antioxidant, protecting aerobic
organisms from the toxic effects of hydrogen peroxide, and in some
cases has been postulated to be a virulence factor. To help elucidate
the function of catalase in Candida albicans, a single
C. albicans-derived catalase gene, designated
CAT1, was isolated and cloned. Degenerate PCR primers based
on highly conserved areas of other fungal catalase genes were used to
amplify a 411-bp product from genomic DNA of C. albicans
ATCC 10261. By using this product as a probe, catalase clones were
isolated from genomic libraries of C. albicans. Nucleotide
sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame encoding a protein of
487 amino acid residues. Construction of a CAT1-deficient
mutant was achieved by using the Ura-blaster technique for sequential
disruption of multiple alleles by integrative transformation using
URA3 as a selectable marker. Resulting mutants exhibited
normal morphology and comparable growth rates of both yeast and
mycelial forms. Enzymatic analysis revealed an abundance of catalase in
the wild-type strain but decreasing catalase activity in heterozygous
mutants and no detectable catalase in a homozygous null mutant. In
vitro assays showed the mutant strains to be more sensitive to damage
by both neutrophils and concentrations of exogenous peroxide that were
sublethal for the parental strain. Compared to the parental strain, the
homozygous null mutant strain was far less virulent for mice in an
intravenous infection model of disseminated candidiasis. Definitive
linkage of CAT1 with virulence would require restoration of
activity by reintroduction of the gene into mutants. However, initial
results in mice, taken together with the enhanced susceptibility of
catalase-deficient hyphae to damage by human neutrophils, suggest that
catalase may enhance the pathogenicity of C. albicans.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Section of
Infectious Diseases, Rm. E-336, Boston Medical Center, 88 East Newton
St., Boston, MA 02118. Phone: (617) 638-7909. Fax: (617) 638-8070. E-mail: rdiamond{at}med-med1.bu.edu.

Publication 011 from the Collaborative Medical Mycology Research
Program.
Infect Immun, May 1998, p. 1953-1961, Vol. 66, No. 5
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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