MSphere of Influence: Start with an Interesting Biological Phenomenon.

Teresa O’Meara

doi:10.1128/msphere.00299-19

Abstract

Teresa O'Meara works in the field of functional genomics of Candida albicans, with a focus on host-pathogen interactions. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how papers entitled "Systematic Screens of a Candida albicans Homozygous Deletion Library Decouple Morphogenetic Switching and Pathogenicity" by S. M. Noble, S. French, L. A. Kohn, V. Chen, and A. D. Johnson (Nat Genet 42:590-598, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.605) and "Exploring Quantitative Yeast Phenomics with Single-Cell Analysis of DNA Damage Foci" by E. B. Styles et al. (Cell Syst 3:264-277.e10, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2016.08.008) impacted her research and thinking through pioneering functional genomic screens. These articles show the power of combining defined mutant libraries with screens for interesting phenotypes to understand new biology.

Highlights

Functional genomic screens bring together the best of both experimental genetic worlds
In “Systematic Screens of a Candida albicans Homozygous Deletion Library Decouple Morphogenetic Switching and Pathogenicity,” the authors built the first large-scale homozygous mutant collection for Candida albicans, covering 674 open reading frames, or approximately 11% of the genome
The authors screened this collection for three phenotypes: growth in defined medium at 37°C, morphogenesis upon incubation in a filamentation-inducing cue, and virulence during systemic infection in a mouse model of candidiasis

Summary

Introduction

Functional genomic screens bring together the best of both experimental genetic worlds. Functional genomic screening approaches have proved to be a powerful way to discover gene function, including in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, where many of the predicted proteins have no annotated function. The papers “Systematic Screens of a Candida albicans Homozygous Deletion Library Decouple Morphogenetic Switching and Pathogenicity” (1) and “Exploring Quantitative Yeast Phenomics with Single-Cell Analysis of DNA Damage Foci” (2) show the power of functional genomic screens for understanding new biology.

Results

Conclusion