Caspofungin Treatment of Aspergillus fumigatus Results in ChsG-Dependent Upregulation of Chitin Synthesis and the Formation of Chitin-Rich Microcolonies

Date of Acceptance: 23/07/2015 We thank Gillian Milne for help with electron microscopy, Sophie M. Schäfer for pilot experiments, and Emilia Mellado for strains. All authors acknowledge financial support of Gilead Sciences through Ph.D. studentships for L.A.W. and K.K.L. We also acknowledge research grants from the Wellcome Trust (080088, 086827, 075470, 099215, and 097377) and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cell wall stress induces alternative fungal cytokinesis and septation strategies

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The mycoparasitic yeast Saccharomycopsis schoenii predates and kills multi-drug resistant Candida auris

EU Marie Curie ITN Fungibrain (607963), the Wellcome Trust (204815/Z/16/Z, 080088, 086827, 075470, 099215, and 097377), MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Elevated Chitin Content Reduces the Susceptibility of Candida Species to Caspofungin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We acknowledge the financial support of Gilead Sciences through a Ph.D. studentship for L.A.W. We also acknowledge research grants from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the Wellcome Trust (grants 080088, 086827, and 075470), and the Ariadne Marie Curie Training Network.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Candida albicans Hypha Formation and Mannan Masking of β-Glucan Inhibit Macrophage Phagosome Maturation

Received 28 August 2014 Accepted 28 October 2014 Published 2 December 2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Janet Willment, Aberdeen Fungal Group, University of Aberdeen, for kindly providing the soluble Dectin-1-Fc reporter. All microscopy was performed with the assistance of the University of Aberdeen Core Microscopy & Histology Facility, and we thank the IFCC for their assistance with flow cytometry. We thank the Wellcome Trust for funding (080088, 086827, 075470, 099215, 097377, and 101873). E.R.B. and A.J.P.B. are funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2009-AdG-249793), and J.L. is funded by a Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellowship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dependence on Mincle and Dectin-2 Varies With Multiple Candida Species During Systemic Infection

FUNDING SO was supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (Grant No. 099953/Z/12/Z) and by a Wellcome Trust Cross-Disciplinary Award. NG acknowledges Wellcome Trust support of a Senior Investigator (101873/Z/13/Z), Collaborative (200208/A/15/Z) and Strategic Awards (097377/Z11/Z) and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/2). PT was funded by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award (107964/Z/15/Z) and the UK Dementia Research Institute. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to acknowledge the NIH-sponsored Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) National System as the source of genetically altered mice (C57BL/6-Clec4et m1. 1C fg /Mmucd 031936-UCD) for use in this study. The mice were produced and deposited to the MMRRC by the Consortium for Functional Glycomics supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM62116). We also thank the Microscopy and Histology Core Facility at the University of Aberdeen for expert assistance with TEM.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Crosstalk between the calcineurin and cell wall integrity pathways prevents chitin overexpression in Candida albicans

Funding Information: We thank Carol Munro for helpful discussions during the research, Raif Yuecel, Elizabeth Adams, Linda Duncan, Barry Lewis and Kimberley Sim for assistance with FACS at Aberdeen Cytometry Core Facility, and Yang Meng and Dominique Sanglard with help in construction of mutants. We also thank Linghuo Jiang, David Soll, Jes?s Pla, Jan Quinn, Terry Roemer and Joseph Heitman for mutant strains. N.A.R.G. acknowledges support from the Wellcome Trust [Senior Investigator (101873/Z/13/Z), Collaborative (200208/A/15/Z and 215599/Z/19/Z) and Strategic (097377/Z11/Z) Awards] and from the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/2). This work was also supported by a Marie Curie FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 grant (MB004 RGE0655 ARIADNE) and by a Wellcome Trust project grant (086827). Open access funding provided by University of Exeter. Deposited in PMC for immediate release.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Viscoelastic Properties of the Fungal Cell Wall Allow Traffic of AmBisome as Intact Liposome Vesicles

NARG thanks The Wellcome Trust (080088, 086827, 075470, 099215 & 097377) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1) and acknowledges financial support from Gilead Sciences for a studentship and grant IX-EU-131-0262. Dr. Linda Soo Hoo and Tark Bunch of Gilead provided expert technical assistance in liposomal sample preparations and GF provided gold labelled test articles. JAM is funded in part from a research grant from Gilead Sciences Inc. ML was supported by the MRC (MR/J008230/1). AC was supported in part by 5R01HL059842, 5R01AI033774, 5R37AI033142, and 5R01AI052733. We thank Debbie Wilkinson and Kevin McKenzie at the Imaging Core Facility at the University of Aberdeen for expert assistance with TEM.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Can early weight loss, eating behaviors and socioeconomic factors predict successful weight loss at 12- and 24-months in adolescents with obesity and insulin resistance participating in a randomised controlled trial?

© 2016 Gow et al.Background: Lifestyle interventions in adolescents with obesity can result in weight loss following active intervention but individual responses vary widely. This study aimed to identify predictors of weight loss at 12- and 24-months in adolescents with obesity and clinical features of insulin resistance. Methods: Adolescents (n = 111, 66 girls, aged 10-17 years) were participants in a randomised controlled trial, the RESIST study, examining the effects of two diets differing in macronutrient content on insulin sensitivity. Eighty-five completed the 12-month program and 24-month follow-up data were available for 42 adolescents. Change in weight was determined by BMI expressed as a percentage of the 95th percentile (BMI95). The study physician collected socioeconomic data at baseline. Physical activity and screen time, and psychological dimensions of eating behavior were self-reported using the validated CLASS and EPI-C questionnaires, respectively. Stepwise multiple regressions were conducted to identify models that best predicted change in BMI95 at 12- and 24-months. Results: Mean BMI95 was reduced at 12-months compared with baseline (mean difference [MD] ± SE: -6.9 ± 1.0, P < 0.001) but adolescents had significant re-gain from 12- to 24-months (MD ± SE: 3.7 ± 1.5, P = 0.017). Participants who achieved greater 12-month weight loss had: greater 3-month weight loss, a father with a higher education, lower baseline external eating and parental pressure to eat scores and two parents living at home. Participants who achieved greater 24-month weight loss had: greater 12-month weight loss and a lower baseline emotional eating score. Conclusions: Early weight loss is consistently identified as a strong predictor of long-term weight loss. This could be because early weight loss identifies those more motivated and engaged individuals. Patients who have baseline factors predictive of long-term weight loss failure may benefit from additional support during the intervention. Additionally, if a patient does not achieve early weight loss, further support or transition to an alternate intervention where they may have increased success may be considered. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registration Number (ACTRN) 12608000416392 https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=83071Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

The PKC, HOG and Ca2+ signalling pathways co-ordinately regulate chitin synthesis in Candida albicans

Open Access via PMC2649417Peer reviewedPublisher PD