Identification and characterization of virulence factor genes in coastal Odisha isolates of Candida albicans 

• Author Details:   
• Sushree Swagatika Subhadarsini
• Gopal Krishna Purohit
• Monali Priyadarsini Mishra
• Debasmita Dubey Dubey
• Subrat Kumar Tripathy ^*

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Introduction: Candida albicans is a ubiquitous and opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause various infections from superficial mucosal lesions to invasive systemic disease. Its virulence is mainly due to important virulence genes which allow adhesion, formation of biofilm, immune evasion.

Aims and Objectives: The present study is to detect and characterize the existence of the four major and invasive virulence genes such as ALS1, HWP1, SAP2, and PLB1 from the clinical isolates of Candida albicans involved in the infected patients from coastal Odisha, India. In addition, the relationship between gene expression and phenotypic traits, like biofilm formation, is also analyzed.

Materials and Methods: A total of 50 clinical isolates of Candida albicans obtained from patients with clinically diagnosed candidiasis at IMS Sum Hospital, Bhubaneswar were used. All isolates were tested for the presence of the target virulence genes by PCR after extracting genomic DNA. Phenotypic biofilm-formation assay was carried out and results were compared with the pattern of genes detected.

Conclusion: The incidence of ALS1 and HWP1 genes was quite high among the isolates, highly associated with the increased biofilm production. These results indicate that the genes play a central role in increasing fungal virulence. The study highlights the genetic heterogeneity as well as phenotypic diversity displayed by the Candida albicans isolates in coastal Odisha and complements the current understanding regarding its molecular pathogenesis. It also demonstrates that specific approaches targeting biofilm inhibition are necessary for better control of infections caused by Candida.