Morphogenesis and Matrix-Initiated Signaling in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus

报告题目：Morphogenesis and Matrix-Initiated Signaling in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus

报告人: Xiaorong Lin, Ph.D, assistant professor

报告人单位：Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, Texas

报告时间：2013年5月14日 9：30-11：00

报告地点：微生物所A203 会议室

主持人：黄广华 研究员

报告摘要：

As non-mobile eukaryotic microbes mostly live in a community rather than in a planktonic state in the environment and in the host, it is important to know how they communicate and coordinate their community behaviors.  Our recent findings inCryptococcus, a major human fungal pathogen, indicate that secreted fungal adhesion proteins that are essential in creating the extracellular matrix for the formation of biofilms, are also critical in coordinating community behaviors (e.g. biofilm formation, morphogenesis, and sexual reproduction).  This is achieved via the dual functions of these molecules as adhesins as well as signaling molecules.  This concept of matrix-initiated signaling in intercellular communication in microbial communities is analogous to matrix-regulated cell differentiation and tissue patterning in higher eukaryotes.