Looking for a few good mutants
Goldman, W.E.
Science 285(5427): 539 541
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10447486 Document Number: 505527
In this issue, Brendan P. Cormack of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, and his colleagues report that they have successfully designed a mutant hunt to identify a virulence-related gene in a fungus pathogenic for humans. They chose Candida glabrata, a yeast that causes mucosal and systemic infections in humans, as their model system. The researchers created an insertion mutant by introducing genetically tagged DNA at random sites in the genome, and this mutagenesis system allowed them to attain their goal of identifying a virulence gene important for adherence. The team developed a screen based on the ability of wild-type C. glabrata to bind to a cultured human epithelial cell line. Of 16 nonadherent mutants, 14 had insertions affecting the expression of a single gene, EPA1.