Nonsense and missense mutations in FCY2 and FCY1 genes are responsible for flucytosine resistance and flucytosine-fluconazole cross-resistance in clinical isolates of Candida lusitaniae

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009 Jul;53(7):2982-90. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00880-08. Epub 2009 May 4.

Abstract

The aim of this work was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of flucytosine (5FC) resistance and 5FC/fluconazole (FLC) cross-resistance in 11 genetically and epidemiologically unrelated clinical isolates of Candida lusitaniae. We first showed that the levels of transcription of the FCY2 gene encoding purine-cytosine permease (PCP) in the isolates were similar to that in the wild-type strain, 6936. Nucleotide sequencing of the FCY2 alleles revealed that 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistance could be correlated with a cytosine-to-thymine substitution at nucleotide 505 in the fcy2 genes of seven clinical isolates, resulting in a nonsense mutation and in a putative nonfunctional truncated PCP of 168 amino acids. Reintroducing a FCY2 wild-type allele at the fcy2 locus of a ura3 auxotrophic strain derived from the clinical isolate CL38 fcy2(C505T) restored levels of susceptibility to antifungals comparable to those of the wild-type strains. In the remaining four isolates, a polymorphic nucleotide was found in FCY1 where the nucleotide substitution T26C resulted in the amino acid replacement M9T in cytosine deaminase. Introducing this mutated allele into a 5FC- and 5FC/FLC-resistant fcy1Delta strain failed to restore antifungal susceptibility, while susceptibility was obtained by introducing a wild-type FCY1 allele. We thus found a correlation between the fcy1 T26C mutation and both 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistances. We demonstrated that only two genetic events occurred in 11 unrelated clinical isolates of C. lusitaniae to support 5FC and 5FC/FLC resistance: either the nonsense mutation C505T in the fcy2 gene or the missense mutation T26C in the fcy1 gene.

MeSH terms

  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology*
  • Blotting, Northern
  • Blotting, Southern
  • Candida / drug effects
  • Candida / genetics
  • Candidiasis / microbiology*
  • Codon, Nonsense / genetics*
  • Drug Resistance, Fungal / genetics
  • Fluconazole / pharmacology*
  • Flucytosine / pharmacology*
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / physiology
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mutation, Missense / genetics*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Codon, Nonsense
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Fluconazole
  • Flucytosine