Abstract
Fungal invasive infections are an increasing health problem. The intrinsic complexity of pathogenic fungi and the unmet clinical need for new and more effective treatments requires a detailed knowledge of the infection process. During infection, fungal pathogens are able to trigger a specific transcriptional program in their host cells. The detailed knowledge of this transcriptional program will allow for a better understanding of the infection process and consequently will help in the future design of more efficient therapeutic strategies. Simultaneous transcriptomic studies of pathogen and host by high-throughput sequencing (dual RNA-seq) is an unbiased protocol to understand the intricate regulatory networks underlying the infectious process. This protocol is starting to be applied to the study of the interactions between fungal pathogens and their hosts. To date, our knowledge of the molecular basis of infection for fungal pathogens is still very limited, and the putative role of regulatory players such as non-coding RNAs or epigenetic factors remains elusive. The wider application of high-throughput transcriptomics in the near future will help to understand the fungal mechanisms for colonization and survival, as well as to characterize the molecular responses of the host cell against a fungal infection.
Highlights
Fungi are a diverse and complex group of eukaryotic microorganisms present in the environment that can be part of the microflora of animals and plants
This pattern of gene expression changes demonstrates that white-nose syndrome is accompanied by an innate anti-fungal host response similar to that caused by cutaneous C. albicans infections [29,64]
The phenotypic change observed in a host cell when it is infected by a fungal pathogen is a direct consequence of specific transcriptional programs induced by the pathogen
Summary
Fungi are a diverse and complex group of eukaryotic microorganisms present in the environment that can be part of the microflora of animals and plants. Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are described by the presence of fungi colonizing deep tissues In humans, these infections have an increasing clinical importance, empowered by the growing number of cases observed in the last decade. Fungal infections can be considered as changes in the natural life cycle of certain fungi, which in most cases require specific host determinants that allow its development within the cells [7,8]. These infections have attracted increasing attention from the scientific community, due to the great inefficiency in the treatment of their systemic forms. Expression of Virulence Factors and Transcriptional Landscape of Infection in Fungal Pathogens
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