Filamentous growth is a general feature of Candida auris clinical isolates
Open accessAbstract
A striking feature of pathogenic Candida species is morphological plasticity that facilitates environmental adaptation and host infection. Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen first described in Japan in 2009. In this study, we demonstrate that clinical isolates of C. auris have multiple colony and cellular morphologies including the yeast, filamentous, aggregated, and elongated forms. This phenotypic diversity has been observed in eight clinical isolates of C. auris representing four major genetic clades, suggesting that it could be a general characteristic. We further demonstrate that different cell types of C. auris exhibit distinct antifungal resistance and virulence properties in a Galleria mellonella infection model. Our findings imply that morphological diversity is an important biological feature of C. auris and could be a contributor to its emergence and rapid prevalence worldwide. Lay Summary: Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen. Morphological analyses indicate that filamentation is a general feature of clinical isolates of C. auris. This ability is associated with antifungal resistance and virulence.
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Clinical isolates of C. auris can exhibit different morphotypes such as filamentous, pseudohyphal, and yeast forms.
“Clinical isolates of C. auris can exhibit different morphotypes such as filamentous, pseudohyphal, and yeast forms (8–14).”
From Yeast and filamentous <i>Candida auris</i> stimulate distinct immune responses in the skin (2024) · cites this paper as [9]
Clinical isolates of C. auris can exhibit different morphotypes, such as yeast, filamentous, and aggregative forms.
“Clinical isolates of C. auris can exhibit different morphotypes, such as yeast, filamentous, and aggregative forms (9–13).”
From Cell aggregation mediated by <i>ACE2</i> deletion in <i>Candida auris</i> modulates fungal colonization and host immune responses in the skin (2024) · cites this paper as [10]
Clinical isolates of C. auris exhibit distinct morphologies, including yeast, aggregative, and filamentous.
“Clinical isolates of C. auris exhibit distinct morphologies, including yeast, aggregative, and filamentous [104–108].”
From Host–Candida auris interactions in the skin (2026) · cites this paper as [105]
Non-aggregative variants are more virulent than aggregative variants in Galleria models.
“Non-aggregative variants were more virulent than aggregative variants in Galleria models (17, 24, 43, 46, 48).”
From Ume6-dependent pathways of morphogenesis and biofilm formation in <i>Candida auris</i> (2024) · cites this paper as [43]
Filamentation is an important virulence trait of C. albicans, but its pathogenic role in C. auris is less obvious.
“While filamentation is an important virulence trait of C. albicans, its pathogenic role in C. auris is less obvious (20, 43, 46).”
From Ume6-dependent pathways of morphogenesis and biofilm formation in <i>Candida auris</i> (2024) · cites this paper as [43]
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Rapid evolution of an adaptive multicellular morphology of Candida auris during systemic infection
Bing, J., Guan, Z., Zheng, T., Ennis, C. L., Nobile, C. J., Chen, C., Chu, H., & Huang, G. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46786-8 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Self-citationMechanisms of pathogenicity for the emerging fungus Candida auris
Horton, M. V., Holt, A. M., & Nett, J. E. (2023) · PLOS Pathogens · doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1011843 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Ume6-dependent pathways of morphogenesis and biofilm formation in <i>Candida auris</i>
Louvet, M., Li, J., Brandalise, D., Bachmann, D., Sala de Oyanguren, F., Labes, D., Jacquier, N., Genoud, C., Mucciolo, A., Coste, A. T., et al. (2024) · Microbiology Spectrum · doi:10.1128/spectrum.01531-24 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Yeast and filamentous <i>Candida auris</i> stimulate distinct immune responses in the skin
Bryak, G., Cox, A., Lionakis, M. S., & Thangamani, S. (2024) · mSphere · doi:10.1128/msphere.00055-24 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Balakumar, A., Cox, A., & Thangamani, S. (2024) · mSphere · doi:10.1128/msphere.00734-24 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Host–Candida auris interactions in the skin
Thangamani, S., Balakumar, A., Datta, A., Bryak, G., & Lionakis, M. S. (2026) · PLOS Pathogens · doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1014075 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fan, S., Yue, H., Zheng, Q., Bing, J., Tian, S., Chen, J., Ennis, C. L., Nobile, C. J., Huang, G., & Du, H.
- Affiliations
- Fudan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- First Hospital of China Medical University (CN)
- University of California, Merced (US)
- Corresponding author
- Du, Han
- ORCID
- Venue
- Medical Mycology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2021-01-23
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 734-740
- ISSN
- 0268-1218 (ISSN-L)
- 1369-3786
- 1460-2709
- PMC
- PMC8257410
- OpenAlex
- W3121426084
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 0.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Medical Mycology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (82002123, 31625002, 31930005)
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35GM124594)
- National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (F31DE028488)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Antifungal resistance and susceptibility
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies
- Keywords
- Candida auris, filamentation, morphological plasticity, yeast-to-hypha transition, antifungal resistance, virulence, Galleria mellonella infection model, clinical isolates, genetic clades, emerging fungal pathogens, multidrug resistance
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Candida, Candidiasis, Humans, Larva, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Moths, Phenotype, Virulence, Drug Resistance, Fungal, Mice
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