A Bioinformatics Approach for the Identification of Genes Responsible for Biofilm Formation in Candida Species

Abstract

Candida biofilm is one of the attributes for drug resistance in candidiasis. Candida biofilms are found on prosthetics, catheters, and implanted devices leads to biofouling. Genes such as ALS1, CDR1, ERG11, HWP1, LIP4 and WOR1 code for biofilm. In this study, bioinformatics tools have been used for data mining and analysis of genes responsible for biofilm formation in Candida tropicalis. Genes responsible for biofilm were tabulated via PubMed search, based on their genotypes and phenotypes. The corresponding gene function from various papers has been marked in correspondence to those found on UniProt database. Further BLAST and Clustal Omega were used to check for similarities and differences and to identify various homologs and orthologs. Through this data mining we have been able to establish that specific genes are associated with Candida biofilm formation. Most of the gene functions as identified in published literature correlate to those given on Uniprot; however in few cases there have been minor differences in genefunction description. Using BLAST and Clustal Omega, a maximum identity of 54% was found among various biofilm forming genes. Through phylogeny tree analysis it has been concluded that few biofilm forming genes such as ALS1, ERG11, and HWP1 show close relation among various species of Candida. The relationship among genes can be used to identify the specific nucleotide sequences that are associated with biofilm formation, which can be further used to identify targets for drug development. Future studies will focus on genes responsible for host-pathogen interactions, which is crucial in understanding the vital environ that fosters biofilm formation in invasive candidiasis.

Keywords: Biofilm, bioinformatics, Candida, C. tropicalis

Cite this Article

Anushka Anil Chhabria, Dristi Kalita, Bindu Sadanandan. A Bioinformatics Approach for the Identification of Genes Responsible for Biofilm Formation in Candida Species. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Life Sciences. 2019; 9(Issue 1 Special): 79s–87s.