C. neoformans gene expression in DMEM of WT and rim101 mutant cells

Purpose: To examine the comparative transcriptional profiles of WT and rim101 mutant cells in host-mimicking in vitro conditions to determine genes that are responsible for the increased virulence of the rim101 strain. The rim101 mutant is able to trigger an overactive inflammatory response, presumably by exposing an antigenic trigger. Using transcriptional profiling, we determined that many genes involved in cell wall processes were differentially transcribed between the wild type and the mutant strain. Whole mRNA profiles of WT and rim101 cells were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina GAII.