Occidiofungin is an antifungal compound that targets the conserved cytoskeletal protein, actin. Despite >90% amino acid conservation between fungal actin proteins, sensitivity to occidiofungin has been shown to vary with C. albicans, F. oxysporum, and P. digitatum exhibiting a resistant profile relative to S. cerevisiae. To determine whether differences in the amino acid sequences of actin contribute to differences in occidiofungin susceptibility, we expressed the actin gene from these fungal organisms in the ACT1 S. cerevisiae shuffle strain. Functionality of actin gene products was determined by measuring growth kinetics, actin protein levels, nuclear position, and actin cable formation. Results demonstrated functional complementation for all actin orthologs. Analysis of occidiofungin susceptibility found that fungal actin ortholog expression resulted in a similar sensitivity profile as the wildtype S. cerevisiae. These findings suggest that amino acid differences in actin are not directly responsible for the resistance to occidiofungin identified for these fungal organisms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-7114 |
| Date | 10 May 2024 |
| Creators | Fagbolade, Moshood |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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