This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wong, B Articles by Croen, K D Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wong, B Articles by Croen, K D

research-article

D-arabitol metabolism in Candida albicans: studies of the biosynthetic pathway and the gene that encodes NAD-dependent D-arabitol dehydrogenase.

Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio 45267-0560.

ABSTRACT

Candida albicans produces large amounts of the pentitol D-arabitol in culture and in infected mammalian hosts, but the functional and pathogenic significance of D-arabitol in C. albicans is not known. In this study, we sought to elucidate the pathway by which C. albicans synthesizes D-arabitol and to identify and characterize key enzymes in this pathway. C. albicans B311 produced D-[14C-1]arabitol from [14C-2]glucose; this finding implies on structural grounds that D-ribulose-5-PO4 from the pentose pathway is the major metabolic precursor of D-arabitol. NAD- or NADP-dependent pentitol dehydrogenases catalyze the final steps in D-arabitol biosynthesis in other fungi; therefore, lysates of C. albicans B311 were tested for enzymes of this class and were found to contain a previously unknown NAD-dependent D-arabitol dehydrogenase (ArDH). The ArDH structural gene was cloned by constructing a new D-arabitol utilization pathway in Escherichia coli. The C. albicans ArDH gene expressed in E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction D-arabitol + NAD <-->D-ribulose + NADH; this gene was present as a single copy per haploid genome, and its deduced peptide sequence was homologous with sequences of several members of the short-chain dehydrogenase family of enzymes. These results suggest that (i) C. albicans synthesizes D-arabitol by dephosphorylating and reducing the pentose pathway intermediate D-ribulose-5-PO4 and (ii) ArDH catalyzes the final step in this pathway.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kayingo, G., Wong, B. (2005). The MAP kinase Hog1p differentially regulates stress-induced production and accumulation of glycerol and D-arabitol in Candida albicans. Microbiology 151: 2987-2999 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Verho, R., Putkonen, M., Londesborough, J., Penttila, M., Richard, P. (2004). A Novel NADH-linked L-Xylulose Reductase in the L-Arabinose Catabolic Pathway of Yeast. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 14746-14751 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ruijter, G. J. G., Visser, J., Rinzema, A. (2004). Polyol accumulation by Aspergillus oryzae at low water activity in solid-state fermentation. Microbiology 150: 1095-1101 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Yeo, S. F., Zhang, Y., Schafer, D., Campbell, S., Wong, B. (2000). A Rapid, Automated Enzymatic Fluorometric Assay for Determination of D-Arabinitol in Serum. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 1439-1443 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Dixon, K. P., Xu, J.-R., Smirnoff, N., Talbot, N. J. (1999). Independent Signaling Pathways Regulate Cellular Turgor during Hyperosmotic Stress and Appressorium-Mediated Plant Infection by Magnaporthe grisea. Plant Cell 11: 2045-2058 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Janbon, G., Sherman, F., Rustchenko, E. (1998). Monosomy of a specific chromosome determines L-sorbose utilization: A novel regulatory mechanism in Candida albicans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95: 5150-5155 [Abstract] [Full Text]