Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

GLYCOBIOLOGY

Mucin modulates microbial morphogenesis

Nature Chemical Biology volume 18, pages 684–686 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

The rising threat of antifungal resistance means that alternative therapeutics need to be considered. New research explores the biochemical basis of virulence inhibition by mucus glycans against the fungal pathogen Candida albicans.

Fungal infections are increasingly common and are associated with extremely high mortality, posing a significant threat to human health globally1. Candida albicans, which is among the most prevalent causes of fungal infections worldwide, is an opportunistic pathogen that undergoes a morphological transition between yeast and hyphal growth to cause invasive infections2. C. albicans is found on human mucosal surfaces, where healthy host mucin helps maintain the organism in a non-invasive yeast state3. In this issue of Nature Chemical Biology, Takagi et al. bolster our understanding of fungus–host interactions by demonstrating that mucin O-glycans from the host mucosa are non-cellular host factors directly responsible for the inhibition of C. albicans morphogenesis4.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1: Understanding the impact of mucin O-glycans on the virulence of C. albicans.

References

  1. Fisher, M. C. et al. mBio 11, e00449–20 (2020).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Sharma, J., Rosiana, S., Razzaq, I. & Shapiro, R. J. Fungi 5, 17 (2019).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kavanaugh, N. L., Zhang, A. Q., Nobile, C. J., Johnson, A. D. & Ribbeck, K. mBio 5, e01911 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Takagi, J. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01035-1 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Romo, J. A. et al. mBio 8, e01991–17 (2017).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. MacAlpine, J. et al. Nat. Commun. 12, 6151 (2021).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wagner, C. E., Wheeler, K. M. & Ribbeck, K. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 34, 189–215 (2018).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Witchley, J. N. et al. Cell Host Microbe 25, 432–443.e6 (2019).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Pruss, K. M. et al. ISME J. 15, 577–591 (2021).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Tan, C. T., Xu, X., Qiao, Y. & Wang, Y. Nat. Commun. 12, 2560 (2021).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    Jehoshua Sharma & Rebecca S. Shapiro

Authors
  1. Jehoshua Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rebecca S. Shapiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca S. Shapiro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sharma, J., Shapiro, R.S. Mucin modulates microbial morphogenesis. Nat Chem Biol 18, 684–686 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01053-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01053-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing