Anticandidal Effect and Mechanisms of Monoterpenoid, Perillyl Alcohol against Candida albicans

PLoS One. 2016 Sep 14;11(9):e0162465. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162465. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

This study explored the antifungal potential of perillyl alcohol (PA), a natural monoterpene alcohol, against most prevalent human fungal pathogen C. albicans, its clinical isolates and four non-albicans species of Candida. To resolve the potential mechanisms, we used whole genome transcriptome analyses of PA treated Candida cells to examine the affected cellular circuitry of this pathogen. The transcriptome data revealed a link between calcineurin signaling and PA as among the several categories of PA responsive genes the down regulation of calcineurin signaling gene CNB1 was noteworthy which was also confirmed by both molecular docking and susceptibility assays. We observed that PA treated Candida phenocopied compromised calcineurin pathway stress responses and turned sensitive to alkaline pH, ionic, membrane, salinity, endoplasmic reticulum and serum stresses. Indispensability of functional calcineurin was further confirmed as calcineurin mutant was hypersensitive to PA while constitutively expressed calcineurin strain remained resistant. We explored that PA leads to perturbed membrane integrity as depicted through depleted ergosterol levels and disrupted pH homeostasis. Moreover, PA caused cell wall damage which was evident from hypersensitivity against cell wall perturbing agents (congo red, calcoflour white), SEM and enhanced rate of cell sedimentation. Furthermore, PA inhibited potential virulence traits including morphological transition, biofilm formation and displayed diminished capacity to adhere both to the polystyrene surface and buccal epithelial cells. The study also revealed that PA leads to cell cycle arrest and mitochondrial dysfunction in C. albicans. Together, the present study provides enough evidence for further work on PA so that better strategies could be employed to treat Candida infections.

MeSH terms

  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology*
  • Biofilms
  • Calcineurin / metabolism
  • Candida albicans / drug effects*
  • Candida albicans / genetics
  • Cell Membrane / drug effects
  • DNA Repair
  • Mitochondria / drug effects
  • Monoterpenes / pharmacology*
  • Morphogenesis
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Transcriptome

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Monoterpenes
  • perillyl alcohol
  • Calcineurin

Grants and funding

S.H. is thankful for the financial assistance in the form of Young Scientist award (SR/FT/LS-12/2012) from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), New Delhi. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.