Filamentation in Candida albicans is modulated by adaptive translation of farnesol signalling genes

The complex biology of the human pathogen Candida albicans is reflected in its remarkable ability to proliferate in numerous body sites, adapt to drastic changes in the environment, form various types of colonies and grow in yeast, pseudo-hyphal and hyphal forms. Much has been learnt in recent years about the relevance of this phenotypic plasticity, but the mechanisms that support it are still not fully understood. We have demonstrated that atypical translation of the CUG codon is a source of unexpected morphological diversity. The CUG codon is translated as both leucine (Leu) (~3%) and serine (Ser) (~97%) in normal growth conditions, but Ser/Leu levels change in response to stress. Remarkably, recombinant C. albicans strains incorporating between 20% and 99% of Leu at CUG sites display a diverse array of phenotypes and produce colonies of variable morphology containing a mixture of yeast, pseudohyphal and hyphal cells. In this work we investigate the role of the CUG codon in the yeast-hypha transition. Our data show that increasing incorporation levels of Leu at CUG sites trigger hyphal initiation under non-inducing conditions by reducing farnesol production, and increasing the degradation of the Nrg1 hyphal repressor. We propose that dual CUG Ser/Leu translation triggers filamentation via the Nrg1 pathway. ImportanceThe unique translation of the CUG codon as both Ser (~97%) and Leu (~3%) plays a key role in the production of high genomic and phenotypic diversity in C. albicans. The molecular mechanisms that support such diversity are poorly understood. Here, we show that increased Leu incorporation at CUG sites induce hyphae formation in media where C. albicans normally grows in the yeast form. The data show that increasing Leu at CUG sites triggers the degradation of the hyphal repressor Nrg1, allowing for full expression of hyphal genes. Since filamentation is important for invasion of host tissues, this work shows how the atypical translation of a single codon may play a critical role in the virulence of all fungi of the CTG clade.