Whole-Genome Sequencing of the Opportunistic Yeast Pathogen Candida inconspicua Uncovers Its Hybrid Origin

Conclusion Candida inconspicua is a lineage comprising opportunistic pathogens with a hybrid origin. Although the number of tested strains is low, the absence of homozygous parentals among clinical isolates suggests that the parental lineages are/might be less able to cause infections when compared to hybrid strains. This adds to a growing list of hybrid yeast opportunist lineages and underscores the relevance of hybridization in the origin of new virulent lineages (Mixão and Gabaldón, 2018). The level of genetic variability among C. inconspicua hybrid strains is high, including distinct levels of aneuploidies and the presence of mitochondrial heterogeneity. This suggests that C. inconspicua hybrids are plastic and prone to adapt to new environments (Mixão and Gabaldón, 2018). Given the medical importance of this species, this should represent a special concern, as this high genomic plasticity may also correlate to a larger phenotypic diversity and a higher propensity to adapt to antifungal drugs and develop new resistances. Thus, more studies to identify new hybrid pathogens, as well as to try to understand how they shape their genomes, and how they can adapt to new environments should be performed. Indeed, it would be very interesting to analyze the genome of environmental strains, to understand if they are also hybrids, or if the hybridization event was the trigger that made this species become a pathogen, as it is suggested for C. metapsilosis...
Source: Frontiers in Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research