Proteomic analysis of the dpp3 knockout mutant, the reconstituted strain and the wild-type strain of Candida lusitaniae

Candida lusitaniae is an emerging human opportunistic yeast, which can switch from yeast to pseudohyphae, and one of the rare Candida species capable of sexual reproduction. Its haploid genome and the genetic tools available make it a model of interest to study gene function. This study describes the consequences of DPP3 inactivation on cell morphology and mating, both altered in the dpp3Δ knock-out. Interestingly, reintroducing a wild-type copy of the DPP3 gene in the dpp3Δ mutant failed to restore the wild-type phenotypes. Proteomic analyses showed that about 150 proteins were statistically deregulated in the dpp3Δ mutant, and that most of them did not return to their wild-type level in the reconstituted DPP3 strain. The analysis of the segregation of the dpp3Δ mutation and the phenotypes in the progeny of a cross (between the dpp3Δ knock-out and a wild-type strain) showed that the phenotypes are not linked to dpp3Δ, but to a secondary mutation. Genome sequencing of the dpp3Δ mutant allowed us to identify this secondary mutation.