Generation of Fluorescent Protein Fusions in Candida Species

Summary

PCR-mediated gene modification can be used to generate fluorescent protein fusions in Candida species, which facilitates visualization and quantitation of yeast cells and proteins. Herein, we present a strategy for constructing a fluorescent protein fusion (Eno1-FP) in Candida parapsilosis.

Abstract

Candida species, prevalent colonizers of the intestinal and genitourinary tracts, are the cause of the majority of invasive fungal infections in humans. Thus, molecular and genetic tools are needed to facilitate the study of their pathogenesis mechanisms. PCR-mediated gene modification is a straightforward and quick approach to generate epitope-tagged proteins to facilitate their detection. In particular, fluorescent protein (FP) fusions are powerful tools that allow visualization and quantitation of both yeast cells and proteins by fluorescence microscopy and immunoblotting, respectively. Plasmids containing FP encoding sequences, along with nutritional marker genes that facilitate the transformation of Candida species, have been generated for the purpose of FP construction and expression in Candida. Herein, we present a strategy for constructing a FP fusion in a Candida species. Plasmids containing the nourseothricin resistance transformation marker gene (NAT1) along with sequences for either green, yellow, or cherry FPs (GFP, YFP, mCherry) are used along with primers that include gene-specific sequences in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to generate a FP cassette. This gene-specific cassette has the ability to integrate into the 3'-end of the corresponding gene locus via homologous recombination. Successful in-frame fusion of the FP sequence into the gene locus of interest is verified genetically, followed by analysis of fusion protein expression by microscopy and/or immuno-detection methods. In addition, for the case of highly expressed proteins, successful fusions can be screened for primarily by fluorescence imaging techniques.

Introduction

Candida species are commensal fungi that colonize the intestinal and genitourinary tracts of all humans. Under conditions of immunodeficiency, such as that occur with premature birth or immunosuppressive effects from treatments for cancer, Candida species can become opportunistic pathogens. Of the Candida species, Candida albicans is the most prevalent fungal colonizer and causes the majority of invasive fungal infections. Other Candida species such as C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, and C. kruseii also cause serious infections in immunocompromised patients, with some exhibit....

Protocol

1. Isolate Template Plasmids from E. coli

1. Grow E. coli containing the template plasmid overnight in 10 ml lysogeny broth (LB) + 200 mg/L ampicillin (AMP) at 37 °C with shaking.
2. Harvest cells by centrifuging at 6,000 x g for 2 min.
3. Decant liquid, isolate and purify DNA from E. coli cells by a standard method as described previously in Ausubel et al.⁸.
4. Resuspend DNA in Tris-EDTA (TE; 10 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0) at a working concentration of 50-100 ng/ml.

2. Design Primers

Results

As an example, we used the protocol described above to construct GFP and mCherry fusions to Eno1 in a C. parapsilosis laboratory strain. Each putative transformant was initially restreaked for growth. In this example, since the resultant fusion protein is highly expressed (enolase) and the FPs are bright, we were able to screen transformants by fluorescence microscopy prior to performing diagnostic PCR (Figure 3)⁶.

Discussion

Construction of epitope tagged sequences in Candida species using the PCR-mediated gene modification strategy described above can be summarized as a three-step process. First, a cassette is made by PCR that encodes both the sequence desired for integration and regions homologous to the locus of insertion into the yeast genome. Second, the yeast cells to be transformed are made chemically competent with lithium acetate and co-incubated with the cassette. Third, the cells are plated on selective media to recover t.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
100 W mercury lamp	CHIU Technical Corporation	M-100T
95% Ethanol	Any	NA
Adenine	Any	NA
Ampicillin	Any	NA
Carrier DNA	Ambion	AM9680	Sheared Salmon Sperm DNA 10 mg/ml
CCD Camera	Photometrics	CoolSNAP HQ
Conical Tube	Corning	430828	50 ml
Culture Tube Rotator	New Brunswick	2013923	TC-8, or Any Culture Tube Rotator
Deoxynucleotides (dNTP) PCR Grade	Any	NA
Eppendorf Tubes	Eppendorf	022363719, 022363212	0.5 ml, 1.5 ml
Erlenmeyer Flask	Fisher Scientific	7250089	125 ml
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA)	Any	NA
Freezer (-80 °C)	Thermo Electron Corporation	ULT-1386-9-V	Revco Ultima II
GFP, YFP and Texas Red Filter Sets	Chroma Technology Corporation	49002, 86004v2, 49008
Glass culture tubes	Fisher Scientific	1496126	75 mm
HRP goat anti-mouse antibody	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-2005
HRP goat anti-rabbit antibody	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-2301
Incubator (30 °C)	Any	NA
Lithium Acetate	Any	NA
Lysogeny Broth (LB) Media	Any	NA
Magnesium Chloride	Any	NA
Microcentrifuge	Eppendorf	5415 D
Microscope	Nikon	E600	Nikon Eclipse E600
Microscope Image Analysis Software	Universal Imaging Corporation	6.3r7	MetaMorph Software Series 6.3r7
Mouse anti-GFP antibody	Roche	11814460001
Nourseothricin	Fisher Scientific	50997939
PCR Thermocycler	Applied Biosystems	9700	GeneAmp PCR System
PCR tubes	BioExpress, GeneMate	T-3035-1	0.2 ml
Polyethylene Glycol 3350	Any	NA
Potassium Chloride	Any	NA
Rabbit anti-mCherry antibody	BioVision	5993-100
Refrigerator (4 °C)	Any	NA
Sodium Acetate	Any	NA
Stereomicroscope	Nikon	SMZ1500
Table Top Centrifuge	Labnet	Z 400	Hermle Z 400
Taq DNA Polymerase	Any	NA
Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris)	Any	NA
Vortex Mixer	Scientific Industries	SI-0236	Vortex Genie 2
Yeast Extract Peptone Dextrose (YPD) Media	Any	NA