ArticleInfection and immunity2013
Cryptococcus neoformans requires the ESCRT protein Vps23 for iron acquisition from heme, for capsule formation, and for virulence.
Article in Infection and immunity, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Cryptococcal nutrient acquisition and pathogenesis: dining on the host.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Leveraging a new data resource to define the response of Cryptococcus neoformans to environmental signals.Genetics · 2025Article
- The interplay between electron transport chain function and iron regulatory factors influences melanin formation inmSphere · 2024Article
- Minimal domain peptides derived from enterocins exhibit potent antifungal activity.Frontiers in fungal biology · 2024Article
- Loss of the putative Rab GTPase, Ypt7, impairs the virulence ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Regulatory and pathogenic mechanisms in response to iron deficiency and excess in fungi.Microbial biotechnology · 2023Review
- Immunomodulatory Potential of Fungal Extracellular Vesicles: Insights for Therapeutic Applications.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- How metals fuel fungal virulence, yet promote anti-fungal immunity.Disease models & mechanisms · 2023Review
- Heme sensing and trafficking in fungi.Fungal biology reviews · 2023Article
- Cryptococcus spp. and Cryptococcosis: focusing on the infection in Brazil.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2022Review
- Role of Iron and Iron Overload in the Pathogenesis of Invasive Fungal Infections in Patients with Hematological Malignancies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Vam6/Vps39/TRAP1-domain proteins influence vacuolar morphology, iron acquisition and virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans.Cellular microbiology · 2021Article
- The Environmental Effects on Virulence Factors and the Antifungal Susceptibility ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Interacting with Hemoglobin:Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- EhVps23: A Component of ESCRT-I That Participates in Vesicular Trafficking and Phagocytosis ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Iron availability is a key regulator of virulence factor elaboration in Cryptococcus neoformans, the causative agent of fungal meningoencephalitis in HIV/AIDS patients. In addition, iron is an essential nutrient for pathogen proliferation in mammalian hosts but little is known about the mechanisms of iron sensing and uptake in fungal pathogens that attack humans. In this study, we mutagenized C. neoformans by Agrobacterium-mediated T-DNA insertion and screened for mutants with reduced growth on heme as the sole iron source. Among 34 mutants, we identified a subset with insertions in the gene for the ESCRT-I (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) protein Vps23 that resulted in a growth defect on heme, presumably due to a defect in uptake via endocytosis or misregulation of iron acquisition from heme. Remarkably, vps23 mutants were also defective in the elaboration of the cell-associated capsular polysaccharide that is a major virulence factor, while overexpression of Vps23 resulted in cells with a slightly enlarged capsule. These phenotypes were mirrored by a virulence defect in the vps23 mutant in a mouse model of cryptococcosis and by hypervirulence of the overexpression strain. Overall, these results reveal an important role for trafficking via ESCRT functions in both heme uptake and capsule formation, and they further reinforce the connection between iron and virulence factor deployment in C. neoformans.
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