Phylogenic inventory of ABC proteins of C. auris and their role in clinical drug resistance

Candida auris is a globally emerging fungal pathogen, and its resistance to the three major classes of antifungal drugs is of great concern to clinicians and medical mycologists. Although several centres have performed whole genome sequencing, causes for the high antifungal resistance phenotypes in this species could not be unequivocally demonstrated. Moreover, an optimal therapeutic recommendation is not available in C. auris infection due to the absence of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) studies. We aim to elucidate the drug resistance mechanisms, track their evolution, and study genotypic changes associated with drug resistance. We also study PK/PD for echinocandins in drug resistant and sensitive strains of C. auris. This study will (I) identify genomic and transcriptomic changes linked to drug resistance, (II) employ a population-based investigation of the evolution of drug resistance, and (III) study pharmacological properties of drugs used against C. auris.