Investigation of the transcriptional effect of artificial activation of Czf1 in Candida albicans

Goal: Phenotypic evidence suggested that the transcription factor Czf1 influences the integrity of the cell wall. RNA-seq was performed to identify cell-wall related genes whose expression changes when Czf1 is artificially activated. Result: The set of genes whose expression is increased at least 4-fold is significantly enriched for genes whose GO (gene ontology) terms are "cell surface" and "cell wall", as well as several known and putative mannosyltransferases. Overall design: The SC5314 wild type was compared two two independently constructed strains which express an artificially activated Czf1 (containing a C-terminal fusion of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Gal4 Activation Domain) under the control of the constitutive ADH1 promoter. All three strains (WT, CZF1GAD1A and B) were sequenced in triplicate from RNA isolated from cultures originating from a single colony.