Iron restriction-induced adaptations in the wall proteome of Candida albicans

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans has developed various ways to overcome iron restriction in a mammalian host. Using different surface proteins, among them membrane- and wall-localized GPI-proteins, it can exploit iron from host hemoglobin, ferritin, and transferrin. Culturing C. albicans in rich medium supplemented with the ferrous iron chelator bathophenanthroline disulfonic acid or in the minimal medium yeast nitrogen base resulted in a strong decrease of the iron content of the cells. Mass spectrometric analysis of the changes in the wall proteome of C. albicans upon iron restriction showed a strong increase in the levels of the GPI-modified adhesin Als3, which also serves as a ferritin receptor, and of the GPI-modified, CFEM domain-containing proteins Csa1, Pga7, Pga10, and Rbt5. The wall levels of the GPI-modified proteins Hyr1, the adhesin Als4, and the copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase Sod4 also strongly increased, whereas the levels of Tos1 (a non-GPI protein) and the GPI-modified adhesin Als2 strongly decreased. Strikingly, peptides derived from the CFEM domain of the heme-binding proteins Csa1, Pga10 and Rbt5 were capable of forming iron adduct ions during mass spectrometric analysis, consistent with a key role of this domain in heme binding.