Journal of Fungi Review The Role of Secretory Pathways in Candida albicans Pathogenesis 1,2, 1, 1,3 1,3 1,2 Christiane Rollenhagen y, Sahil Mamtani y, Dakota Ma , Reva Dixit , Susan Eszterhas and Samuel A. Lee 1,2,* 1 Medicine Service, White River Junction VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA;
[email protected] (C.R.);
[email protected] (S.M.);
[email protected] (D.M.);
[email protected] (R.D.);
[email protected] (S.E.) 2 Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755, USA 3 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 18 January 2020; Accepted: 20 February 2020; Published: 24 February 2020 Abstract: Candida albicans is a fungus that is a commensal organism and a member of the normal human microbiota. It has the ability to transition into an opportunistic invasive pathogen. Attributes that support pathogenesis include secretion of virulence-associated proteins, hyphal formation, and biofilm formation. These processes are supported by secretion, as defined in the broad context of membrane trafficking. In this review, we examine the role of secretory pathways in Candida virulence, with a focus on the model opportunistic fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. Keywords: Candida albicans; biofilm; filamentation; pathogenesis; secretion; trafficking; virulence 1. Introduction The fungus Candida albicans is a commensal organism and part of the human microbiome. In certain circumstances, it can become an opportunistic pathogen and has, therefore, been used as a model of fungal pathogenesis [1].