Effect of Replicative Aging on Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn) is an opportunistic fungal microorganism that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis. During the infection, the microbial population is heterogeneously composed of cells with varying generational ages, with older cells accumulating during chronic infections. This is attributed to their enhanced resistance to phagocytic killing and tolerance of antifungals like fluconazole (FLC). Using RNA-seq, we investigated how transcriptomic changes in different aspects of metabolism contribute to age-associated FLC tolerance in Cn. Overall design: To study the effects of replicative aging on the transcriptome of C. neoformans, we isolated young (0-3 generations) and old (10 generations) cells. Then, the transcriptomes of young and old cells were analyzed to identify ent gene expression.