PUBLICATION

Zebrafish as a Model Host for Candida albicans Infection

Authors
Chao, C.C., Hsu, P.C., Jen, C.F., Chen, I.H., Wang, C.H., Chan, H.C., Tsai, P.W., Tung, K.C., Wang, C.H., Lan, C.Y., and Chuang, Y.J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-100330-8
Date
2010
Source
Infection and Immunity   78(6): 2512-2521 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Chuang, Yung-Jen, Wang, Chieh-Huei
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Candida albicans/pathogenicity*
  • Candidiasis/immunology
  • Candidiasis/microbiology
  • Candidiasis/pathology*
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Hyphae/growth & development
  • Survival Analysis
  • Virulence
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
20308295 Full text @ Infect. Immun.
Abstract
In this work, the zebrafish model organism was developed into a mini-vertebrate host system for a Candida albicans infection study. We demonstrated that C. albicans can colonize and invade the fish host at multiple anatomical sites and kill the zebrafish in a dose-dependent manner. Inside the zebrafish, we monitored the progression of the C. albicans yeast-to-hyphae transition by tracking morphogenesis, and we monitored the corresponding gene-expression dynamics of the pathogen and the early host immune response. We performed a zebrafish survival assay under the challenge of different C. albicans strains (SC5314, ATCC10231, an hgc1 mutant and a cph1/efg1 double mutant) to determine each strain's virulence, and the results were similar to findings reported in previous mouse-model studies. Finally, using zebrafish embryos, we monitored C. albicans infection and visualized the interaction between pathogen and host myelomonocytic cells in vivo. Taken together, this work demonstrates that zebrafish can be a useful host model to study C. albicans pathogenesis, and it highlights the advantages of using the zebrafish model in future invasive fungal research.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping