The transcriptomic and phenotypic response of the melanized yeast Exophiala dermatitidis to ionizing particle exposure

The yeast E. dermatitidis is highly resistant to ionizing particle irradiation, and exposure to this stress elicits a transcriptomic response that is distinct from that induced by photonic irradiation. Melanin, in this organism, does not exhibit substantial control over this transcriptomic response, nor does it protect the cells from radiation-induced death under the conditions we tested. However, the strong response we observed here at the gene expression level inprovides insights into the unique types of damage that particle irradiation causes to fungal cells, allowing for future dissection of radiation source-specific resistance mechanisms. Overall design: Examine transcriptomic profiles of E. dermatitidis wild type and pks1 mutant and their exposues to ionizing particle radiation