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Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 231-240, Vol. 181, No. 1
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Isolation of a Putative Candida albicans
Transcriptional Regulator Involved in Pleiotropic Drug Resistance by
Functional Complementation of a pdr1 pdr3 Mutation in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Driss
Talibi
and
Martine
Raymond*
Institut de Recherches Cliniques de
Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2W 1R7
Received 24 August 1998/Accepted 21 October 1998
Three Candida albicans genes, designated
FCR (for fluconazole resistance), have been isolated by
their ability to complement the fluconazole (FCZ) hypersensitivity of a
Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant lacking the transcription
factors Pdr1p and Pdr3p. Overexpression of any of the three
FCR genes in the pdr1 pdr3 mutant resulted in
increased resistance of the cells to FCZ and cycloheximide and in
increased expression of PDR5, a gene coding for a drug efflux transporter of the ATP-binding cassette superfamily and whose
transcription is under the control of Pdr1p and Pdr3p. Deletion of
PDR5 in the pdr1 pdr3 strain completely
abrogated the ability of the three FCR genes to confer FCZ
resistance, demonstrating that PDR5 is required for
FCR-mediated FCZ resistance in S. cerevisiae. The FCR1 gene encodes a putative 517-amino-acid protein
with an N-terminal Zn2C6-type zinc finger motif
homologous to that found in fungal zinc cluster proteins, including
S. cerevisiae Pdr1p and Pdr3p. We have constructed a
C. albicans CAI4-derived mutant strain carrying a
homozygous deletion of the FCR1 gene and analyzed its
ability to grow in the presence of FCZ. We found that the fcr1
/fcr1
mutant displays hyperresistance to FCZ and
other antifungal drugs compared to the parental CAI4 strain. This
hyperresistance could be reversed to wild-type levels by reintroduction
of a plasmid-borne copy of FCR1 into the
fcr1
/fcr1
mutant. Taken together, our results
indicate that the FCR1 gene behaves as a negative regulator of drug resistance in C. albicans and constitute the first
evidence that FCZ resistance can result from the inactivation of a
regulatory factor such as Fcr1p.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut de
Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, 110 Pine Ave. West,
Montréal, Québec, Canada H2W 1R7. Phone: 514-987-5770. Fax:
514-987-5732. E-mail: raymonm{at}ircm.umontreal.ca.

Present address: Banting and Best Department of Medical Research,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G
1L6.
Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 231-240, Vol. 181, No. 1
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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