ArticlemBio2015
Polyploid titan cells produce haploid and aneuploid progeny to promote stress adaptation.
Article in mBio, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 119 papers.
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Who cites it
119 citing papers in PubMed, 179 citations in OpenAlex.
- Esculetin exhibits antifungal effects againstVirulence · 2026Article
- The Cryptococcus neoformans titanide is a pathogenic cell type that arises from typical yeast cells in response to host conditions.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Beyond antifungal susceptibility: molecular mechanisms, detection, and clinical implications of fungal heteroresistance.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Growth under pressure: The pros and cons of polyploidy induced by stress.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Review
- Meiosis-specific genes play roles in ploidy reduction inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Ricin B lectin-like proteins mediate thermotolerance, cell wall integrity, and fungal virulence inCell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Ovoid cell is an inducible small-sized morphotype that enhances proliferation and antifungal drug tolerance in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- From stress to strength: mechanotransducing poly(aneu)ploidy into a community-level advantage in cancer.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2026Review
- Protoplast fusion as a strategy to increase ploidy in Rhodotorula toruloides for strain development.Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Advances in cryptococcal infections-associated immunopathology and potential therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Organization principles of dynamic three-dimensional genome architecture associated with centromere clustering states.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Aneuploidy, polyploidy, and loss of heterozygosity distinguish serial bloodstream isolates ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Meiosis-specific genes play roles in ploidy reduction inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The Role of Nutritional Environment inInfectious disease reports · 2025Article
- Patterns and mechanisms of fungal genome plasticity.Current biology : CB · 2025Review
- Article
- Insight into the Mechanisms and Clinical Relevance of Antifungal Heteroresistance.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Recent Advances in Antimicrobial Resistance: Insights fromMicroorganisms · 2024Review
- Elements of dissemination in cryptococcosis.mBio · 2024Review
59 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
unlabelledCryptococcus neoformans is a major life-threatening fungal pathogen. In response to the stress of the host environment, C. neoformans produces large polyploid titan cells. Titan cell production enhances the virulence of C. neoformans, yet whether the polyploid aspect of titan cells is specifically influential remains unknown. We show that titan cells were more likely to survive and produce offspring under multiple stress conditions than typical cells and that even their normally sized daughters maintained an advantage over typical cells in continued exposure to stress. Although polyploid titan cells generated haploid daughter cell progeny upon in vitro replication under nutrient-replete conditions, titan cells treated with the antifungal drug fluconazole produced fluconazole-resistant diploid and aneuploid daughter cells. Interestingly, a single titan mother cell was capable of generating multiple types of aneuploid daughter cells. The increased survival and genomic diversity of titan cell progeny promote rapid adaptation to new or high-stress conditions. IMPORTANCE: The ability to adapt to stress is a key element for survival of pathogenic microbes in the host and thus plays an important role in pathogenesis. Here we investigated the predominantly haploid human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, which is capable of ploidy and cell size increases during infection through production of titan cells. The enlarged polyploid titan cells are then able to rapidly undergo ploidy reduction to generate progeny with reduced ploidy and/or aneuploidy. Under stressful conditions, titan cell progeny have a growth and survival advantage over typical cell progeny. Understanding how titan cells enhance the rate of cryptococcal adaptation under stress conditions may assist in the development of novel drugs aimed at blocking ploidy transitions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.