Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that often causes lung and brain infection in immunocompromised patients with high fatality. Our previous results showed that an F-box protein, Fbp1, is essential for Cryptococcus virulence independent of the classical virulence factors, suggesting a novel virulence control mechanism. In this study, we have shown that Fbp1 is a part of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and further investigated the mechanism of Fbp1 function during infection. Time course studies revealed that the fbp1Δ mutant causes little damage in the infected lung, and the fungal burden in the lung remains at a low but persistent level throughout infection. The fbp1Δ mutant cannot d... More
Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that often causes lung and brain infection in immunocompromised patients with high fatality. Our previous results showed that an F-box protein, Fbp1, is essential for Cryptococcus virulence independent of the classical virulence factors, suggesting a novel virulence control mechanism. In this study, we have shown that Fbp1 is a part of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and further investigated the mechanism of Fbp1 function during infection. Time course studies revealed that the fbp1Δ mutant causes little damage in the infected lung, and the fungal burden in the lung remains at a low but persistent level throughout infection. The fbp1Δ mutant cannot disseminate to other organs following pulmonary infection in the murine inhalation model of cryptococcosis, but still causes brain infection in a murine intravenous injection model, suggesting that the block of dissemination of the fbp1Δ mutant is due to its inability to leave the lung. The fbp1Δ mutant showed a defect in intracellular proliferation after phagocytosis in a Cryptococcus-macrophage interaction assay, which likely contributes to its virulence attenuation. To elucidate the molecular basis of the SCF (Fbp1) E3 ligase function, we analyzed potential Fbp1 substrates based on proteomic approaches, combined with phenotypic analysis. One substrate, the inositol phosphosphingolipid-phospholipase C1 (Isc1), is required for fungal survival inside macrophage cells, which is consistent with the role of Fbp1 in regulating Cryptococcus-macrophage interaction and fungal virulence. Our results thus reveal a new determinant of fungal virulence that involves the post-translational regulation of inositol sphingolipid biosynthesis.
