Overexpression of IFD6 in Candida albicans promotes biofilm formation / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of IFD6 on biofilm-forming ability of C. albicans. Methods: We constructed an IFD6-overexpressing plasmid and inserted IFD6 intact open reading frame (ORF) under the control of the MET3 promoter in pCaEXP plasmid, which was then used to transform C. albicans CAI4 by lithium acetate method. PCR was used to investigate the in situ integration of IFD6 gene and real-time PCR was used to select strains highly expressing IFD6 gene. XTT assay and confocal scanning laser microscopy were used to investigate the changes of biofilm-forming ability before and after IFD6 overexpression. We also investigated the changes of cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) using relative CSH assay. Results: We successfully constructed IFD6-overexpressing plasmid as confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing; IFD6-overexpressing strain was successfully established as confirmed by PCR. Real-time PCR successfully selected a strain highly expressing IFD6 gene. The results of XTT assay and confocal scanning laser microscopy both showed that IFD6-overexpressing strain had an enhanced biofilm forming ability and an increased cell surface hydrophobicity. Conclusion: Overexpression of IFD6 can enhance the biofilm forming ability of C. albicans by increasing CSH.