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PLoS Pathog

Title:		Cryptococcal cell morphology affects host cell interactions and pathogenicity
Author(s):		Okagaki LH; Strain AK; Nielsen JN; Charlier C; Baltes NJ; Chretien F; Heitman J; Dromer F; Nielsen K;
Address:		"Department of Microbiology, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America"
Journal Title:		PLoS Pathog
Year:		2010
Volume:		20100617
Issue:		6
Page Number:		e1000953 -
DOI:		10.1371/journal.ppat.1000953
ISSN/ISBN:		1553-7374 (Electronic) 1553-7366 (Print) 1553-7366 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Cryptococcus neoformans is a common life-threatening human fungal pathogen. The size of cryptococcal cells is typically 5 to 10 microm. Cell enlargement was observed in vivo, producing cells up to 100 microm. These morphological changes in cell size affected pathogenicity via reducing phagocytosis by host mononuclear cells, increasing resistance to oxidative and nitrosative stress, and correlated with reduced penetration of the central nervous system. Cell enlargement was stimulated by coinfection with strains of opposite mating type, and ste3aDelta pheromone receptor mutant strains had reduced cell enlargement. Finally, analysis of DNA content in this novel cell type revealed that these enlarged cells were polyploid, uninucleate, and produced daughter cells in vivo. These results describe a novel mechanism by which C. neoformans evades host phagocytosis to allow survival of a subset of the population at early stages of infection. Thus, morphological changes play unique and specialized roles during infection"
Keywords:		"Animals Blood-Brain Barrier Blotting, Western Brain/metabolism/*microbiology Bronchoalveolar Lavage Cell Adhesion Cell Proliferation Cryptococcosis/*metabolism/*pathology Cryptococcus neoformans/*physiology Female Flow Cytometry Humans Lung Diseases, Fung;"
Notes:		"MedlineOkagaki, Laura H Strain, Anna K Nielsen, Judith N Charlier, Caroline Baltes, Nicholas J Chretien, Fabrice Heitman, Joseph Dromer, Francoise Nielsen, Kirsten eng K22 AI070152-01A2/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ K22 AI070152/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ K22 AI070152-02/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 AI080275/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 AI50113/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 AI050113/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural 2010/06/30 PLoS Pathog. 2010 Jun 17; 6(6):e1000953. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000953"