Liu, Min, Du, Ping, Heinrich, Garrett, Cox, Gary M, Gelli, Angie
The ability of Cryptococcus neoformans to grow at the mammalian body temperature (37 degrees C to 39 degrees C) is a well-established virulence factor. Growth of C. neoformans at this physiological...
Mylonakis, Eleftherios, Rude, Thomas, Toffaletti, Dena, Cox, Gary M, ...
The disaccharide trehalose has been found to play diverse roles, from energy source to stress protectant, and this sugar is found in organisms as diverse as bacteria, fungi, plants, and invertebrates...
Alspaugh, J. Andrew, Pukkila-Worley, Read, Harashima, Toshiaki, Cavallo, Lora M., Funnell, Deanna L., Cox, Gary M., ...
The signaling molecule cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger that enables cells to detect and respond to extracellular signals. cAMP is generated by the enzyme adenylyl cyclase, which is...
Fungal phospholipase activity and susceptibility to lipid preparations of amphotericin B. (2001)
Gottfredsson, Magnus, Jessup, Chad J., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Ghannoum, Mahmoud A.
It has been postulated that phospholipases of fungal origin can affect in vitro susceptibility testing of amphotericin B lipid complex (ABLC). We used specific phospholipase-deficient mutants of...
Lengeler, Klaus B., Wang, Ping, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with a defined sexual cycle involving mating between haploid MATa and MATα cells. Here we describe the isolation of part of the MATa...
D'Souza, Cletus A., Alspaugh, J. Andrew, Yue, Changli, Harashima, Toshiaki, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that infects the human central nervous system. This pathogen elaborates two specialized virulence factors: the antioxidant melanin and an...
Xue, Chaoyang, Bahn, Yong-Sun, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The Gα protein Gpa1 governs the cAMP-PKA signaling pathway and plays a central role in virulence and differentiation in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, but the signals and...
Fungal Phospholipase Activity and Susceptibility to Lipid Preparations of Amphotericin B
Gottfredsson, Magnus, Jessup, Chad J., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Ghannoum, Mahmoud A.
It has been postulated that phospholipases of fungal origin can affect in vitro susceptibility testing of amphotericin B lipid complex (ABLC). We used specific phospholipase-deficient mutants of...
Urease as a Virulence Factor in Experimental Cryptococcosis
Cox, Gary M., Mukherjee, Jean, Cole, Garry T., Casadevall, Arturo, Perfect, John R.
Urease catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to ammonia and carbamate and has been found to be an important pathogenic factor for certain bacteria. Cryptococcus neoformans is a significant human...
Cruz, M. Cristina, Sia, Rey A. L., Olson, Michael, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The calcineurin gene was cloned and disrupted in serotype D strains of Cryptococcus neoformans. Serotype A and serotype D calcineurin mutants were inviable at 37°C and avirulent in mice, whereas...
Synthesis of Polymerized Melanin by Cryptococcus neoformans in Infected Rodents
Rosas, Ángel L., Nosanchuk, Joshua D., Feldmesser, Marta, Cox, Gary M., McDade, Henry C., Casadevall, Arturo
The ability of Cryptococcus neoformans to synthesize polymerized melanin in vitro has been associated with virulence, but it is unclear whether this fungus synthesizes polymerized melanin during...
Lengeler, Klaus B., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycete with a defined sexual cycle involving mating between haploid yeast cells with a transient diploid state. C. neoformans occurs in four predominant...
Shen, Wei-Chiang, Davidson, Robert C., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic fungus with a defined sexual cycle involving haploid MATα and MATa cells. Interestingly, MATα strains are more common, are more virulent than congenic MATa...
Wang, Ping, Nichols, Connie B., Lengeler, Klaus B., Cardenas, Maria E., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with a defined sexual cycle involving fusion of haploid MATα and MATa cells. Virulence has been linked to the mating type, and MATα cells...
Alspaugh, J. Andrew, Pukkila-Worley, Read, Harashima, Toshiaki, Cavallo, Lora M., Funnell, Deanna, Cox, Gary M., ...
The signaling molecule cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger that enables cells to detect and respond to extracellular signals. cAMP is generated by the enzyme adenylyl cyclase, which is...
Relationship of the Glyoxylate Pathway to the Pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans
Rude, Thomas H., Toffaletti, Dena L., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R.
Functional genomics has become a major focus in the study of microbial pathogenesis. This study used a functional genomic tool, differential display reverse transcription-PCR, to identify a...
Cox, Gary M., Harrison, Thomas S., McDade, Henry C., Taborda, Carlos P., Heinrich, Garrett, Casadevall, Arturo, ...
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that converts superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen and has been shown to contribute to the virulence of many human-pathogenic...
Role of PLB1 in Pulmonary Inflammation and Cryptococcal Eicosanoid Production
Noverr, Mairi C., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Huffnagle, Gary B.
Cryptococcal phospholipase (PLB1) is a secreted enzyme with lysophospholipase hydrolase and lysophospholipase transacylase activities. To investigate the role of PLB1 in the evasion of host immune...
Sexual Cycle of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and Virulence of Congenic a and α Isolates
Nielsen, Kirsten, Cox, Gary M., Wang, Ping, Toffaletti, Dena L., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a human-pathogenic fungus that has evolved into three distinct varieties that infect most prominently the central nervous system. A sexual cycle involving haploid cells of...
Identification of App1 as a regulator of phagocytosis and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans
Luberto, Chiara, Martinez-Mariño, Beatriz, Taraskiewicz, Daniel, Bolaños, Benjamin, Chitano, Pasquale, Toffaletti, Dena L., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that, after inhalation, can disseminate to the brain. Host alveolar macrophages (AMs) represent the first defense against the fungus. Once phagocytosed by...
Role of Alternative Oxidase Gene in Pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans
Akhter, Shamima, McDade, Henry C., Gorlach, Jenifer M., Heinrich, Garrett, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R.
We identified a homologue of the alternative oxidase gene in a screen to identify genes that are preferentially transcribed in response to a shift to 37°C in the human-pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus...
Fox, Deborah S., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised patients. The Ca2+-calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase...
Hicks, Julie K., D'Souza, Cletus A., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Our earlier findings established that cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase functions in a signaling cascade that regulates mating and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (serotype A)....
The α-Specific Cell Identity Factor Sxi1α Is Not Required for Virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans
Hull, Christina M., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that has two mating types (a and α). Experiments have shown that in some backgrounds α strains are more virulent than a strains. Our studies...
Kingsbury, Joanne M., Yang, Zhonghui, Ganous, Tonya M., Cox, Gary M., McCusker, John H.
The Cryptococcus neoformans LYS9 gene (encoding saccharopine dehydrogenase) was cloned and found to be part of an evolutionarily conserved chimera with SPE3 (encoding spermidine synthase). spe3-lys9,...
Identification of Cryptococcus neoformans Temperature-Regulated Genes with a Genomic-DNA Microarray†
Kraus, Peter R., Boily, Marie-Josée, Giles, Steven S., Stajich, Jason E., Allen, Andria, Cox, Gary M., ...
The ability to survive and proliferate at 37°C is an essential virulence attribute of pathogenic microorganisms. A partial-genome microarray was used to profile gene expression in the...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Hicks, Julie K., Giles, Steven S., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The evolutionarily conserved cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway controls cell functions in response to environmental cues in organisms as diverse as yeast and mammals. In the basidiomycetous human...
Giles, Steven S., Batinić-Haberle, Ines, Perfect, John R., Cox, Gary M.
Manganese superoxide dismutase is an essential component of the mitochondrial antioxidant defense system of most eukaryotes. In the present study, we used a reverse-genetics approach to assess the...
Pukkila-Worley, Read, Gerrald, Quincy D., Kraus, Peter R., Boily, Marie-Josée, Davis, Matthew J., Giles, Steven S., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen that elaborates several virulence attributes, including a polysaccharide capsule and melanin pigments. A conserved Gα protein/cyclic...
Wang, Ping, Cardenas, Maria E., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cyclophilin A is the target of the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A (CsA) and is encoded by a single unique gene conserved from yeast to humans. In the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, two...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Kojima, Kaihei, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans has diverged from a common ancestor into three biologically distinct varieties or sibling species over the past 10–40 million years. During...
Nielsen, Kirsten, Cox, Gary M., Litvintseva, Anastasia P., Mylonakis, Eleftherios, Malliaris, Stephanie D., Benjamin, Daniel K., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that has evolved over the past 40 million years into three distinct varieties or sibling species (gattii, grubii, and neoformans). Each variety manifests...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Kojima, Kaihei, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The stress-activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is widely used by eukaryotic organisms as a central conduit via which cellular responses to the environment effect growth and...
Nielsen, Kirsten, Marra, Robert E., Hagen, Ferry, Boekhout, Teun, Mitchell, Thomas G., Cox, Gary M., ...
The study of quantitative traits provides a window on the interactions between multiple unlinked genetic loci. The interaction between hosts and pathogenic microbes, such as fungi, involves aspects...
Lengeler, Klaus B., Wang, Ping, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with a defined sexual cycle involving mating between haploid MATa and MATα cells. Here we describe the isolation of part of the MATa...
D'Souza, Cletus A., Alspaugh, J. Andrew, Yue, Changli, Harashima, Toshiaki, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that infects the human central nervous system. This pathogen elaborates two specialized virulence factors: the antioxidant melanin and an...
Fungal Phospholipase Activity and Susceptibility to Lipid Preparations of Amphotericin B
Gottfredsson, Magnus, Jessup, Chad J., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Ghannoum, Mahmoud A.
It has been postulated that phospholipases of fungal origin can affect in vitro susceptibility testing of amphotericin B lipid complex (ABLC). We used specific phospholipase-deficient mutants of...
Urease as a Virulence Factor in Experimental Cryptococcosis
Cox, Gary M., Mukherjee, Jean, Cole, Garry T., Casadevall, Arturo, Perfect, John R.
Urease catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to ammonia and carbamate and has been found to be an important pathogenic factor for certain bacteria. Cryptococcus neoformans is a significant human...
Cruz, M. Cristina, Sia, Rey A. L., Olson, Michael, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The calcineurin gene was cloned and disrupted in serotype D strains of Cryptococcus neoformans. Serotype A and serotype D calcineurin mutants were inviable at 37°C and avirulent in mice, whereas...
Synthesis of Polymerized Melanin by Cryptococcus neoformans in Infected Rodents
Rosas, Ángel L., Nosanchuk, Joshua D., Feldmesser, Marta, Cox, Gary M., McDade, Henry C., Casadevall, Arturo
The ability of Cryptococcus neoformans to synthesize polymerized melanin in vitro has been associated with virulence, but it is unclear whether this fungus synthesizes polymerized melanin during...
Lengeler, Klaus B., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycete with a defined sexual cycle involving mating between haploid yeast cells with a transient diploid state. C. neoformans occurs in four predominant...
Shen, Wei-Chiang, Davidson, Robert C., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic fungus with a defined sexual cycle involving haploid MATα and MATa cells. Interestingly, MATα strains are more common, are more virulent than congenic MATa...
Wang, Ping, Nichols, Connie B., Lengeler, Klaus B., Cardenas, Maria E., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with a defined sexual cycle involving fusion of haploid MATα and MATa cells. Virulence has been linked to the mating type, and MATα cells...
Alspaugh, J. Andrew, Pukkila-Worley, Read, Harashima, Toshiaki, Cavallo, Lora M., Funnell, Deanna, Cox, Gary M., ...
The signaling molecule cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger that enables cells to detect and respond to extracellular signals. cAMP is generated by the enzyme adenylyl cyclase, which is...
Relationship of the Glyoxylate Pathway to the Pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans
Rude, Thomas H., Toffaletti, Dena L., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R.
Functional genomics has become a major focus in the study of microbial pathogenesis. This study used a functional genomic tool, differential display reverse transcription-PCR, to identify a...
Cox, Gary M., Harrison, Thomas S., McDade, Henry C., Taborda, Carlos P., Heinrich, Garrett, Casadevall, Arturo, ...
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that converts superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen and has been shown to contribute to the virulence of many human-pathogenic...
Role of PLB1 in Pulmonary Inflammation and Cryptococcal Eicosanoid Production
Noverr, Mairi C., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Huffnagle, Gary B.
Cryptococcal phospholipase (PLB1) is a secreted enzyme with lysophospholipase hydrolase and lysophospholipase transacylase activities. To investigate the role of PLB1 in the evasion of host immune...
Sexual Cycle of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and Virulence of Congenic a and α Isolates
Nielsen, Kirsten, Cox, Gary M., Wang, Ping, Toffaletti, Dena L., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a human-pathogenic fungus that has evolved into three distinct varieties that infect most prominently the central nervous system. A sexual cycle involving haploid cells of...
Identification of App1 as a regulator of phagocytosis and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans
Luberto, Chiara, Martinez-Mariño, Beatriz, Taraskiewicz, Daniel, Bolaños, Benjamin, Chitano, Pasquale, Toffaletti, Dena L., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that, after inhalation, can disseminate to the brain. Host alveolar macrophages (AMs) represent the first defense against the fungus. Once phagocytosed by...
Role of Alternative Oxidase Gene in Pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans
Akhter, Shamima, McDade, Henry C., Gorlach, Jenifer M., Heinrich, Garrett, Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R.
We identified a homologue of the alternative oxidase gene in a screen to identify genes that are preferentially transcribed in response to a shift to 37°C in the human-pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus...
Fox, Deborah S., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised patients. The Ca2+-calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase...
Hicks, Julie K., D'Souza, Cletus A., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Our earlier findings established that cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase functions in a signaling cascade that regulates mating and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (serotype A)....
The α-Specific Cell Identity Factor Sxi1α Is Not Required for Virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans
Hull, Christina M., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that has two mating types (a and α). Experiments have shown that in some backgrounds α strains are more virulent than a strains. Our studies...
Kingsbury, Joanne M., Yang, Zhonghui, Ganous, Tonya M., Cox, Gary M., McCusker, John H.
The Cryptococcus neoformans LYS9 gene (encoding saccharopine dehydrogenase) was cloned and found to be part of an evolutionarily conserved chimera with SPE3 (encoding spermidine synthase). spe3-lys9,...
Identification of Cryptococcus neoformans Temperature-Regulated Genes with a Genomic-DNA Microarray†
Kraus, Peter R., Boily, Marie-Josée, Giles, Steven S., Stajich, Jason E., Allen, Andria, Cox, Gary M., ...
The ability to survive and proliferate at 37°C is an essential virulence attribute of pathogenic microorganisms. A partial-genome microarray was used to profile gene expression in the...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Hicks, Julie K., Giles, Steven S., Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The evolutionarily conserved cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway controls cell functions in response to environmental cues in organisms as diverse as yeast and mammals. In the basidiomycetous human...
Giles, Steven S., Batinić-Haberle, Ines, Perfect, John R., Cox, Gary M.
Manganese superoxide dismutase is an essential component of the mitochondrial antioxidant defense system of most eukaryotes. In the present study, we used a reverse-genetics approach to assess the...
Pukkila-Worley, Read, Gerrald, Quincy D., Kraus, Peter R., Boily, Marie-Josée, Davis, Matthew J., Giles, Steven S., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen that elaborates several virulence attributes, including a polysaccharide capsule and melanin pigments. A conserved Gα protein/cyclic...
Wang, Ping, Cardenas, Maria E., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., Heitman, Joseph
Cyclophilin A is the target of the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A (CsA) and is encoded by a single unique gene conserved from yeast to humans. In the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, two...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Kojima, Kaihei, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans has diverged from a common ancestor into three biologically distinct varieties or sibling species over the past 10–40 million years. During...
Nielsen, Kirsten, Cox, Gary M., Litvintseva, Anastasia P., Mylonakis, Eleftherios, Malliaris, Stephanie D., Benjamin, Daniel K., ...
Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that has evolved over the past 40 million years into three distinct varieties or sibling species (gattii, grubii, and neoformans). Each variety manifests...
Xue, Chaoyang, Bahn, Yong-Sun, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The Gα protein Gpa1 governs the cAMP-PKA signaling pathway and plays a central role in virulence and differentiation in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, but the signals and...
Nielsen, Kirsten, Marra, Robert E., Hagen, Ferry, Boekhout, Teun, Mitchell, Thomas G., Cox, Gary M., ...
The study of quantitative traits provides a window on the interactions between multiple unlinked genetic loci. The interaction between hosts and pathogenic microbes, such as fungi, involves aspects...
Bahn, Yong-Sun, Kojima, Kaihei, Cox, Gary M., Heitman, Joseph
The stress-activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is widely used by eukaryotic organisms as a central conduit via which cellular responses to the environment effect growth and...
Petzold, Elizabeth Wills, Himmelreich, Uwe, Mylonakis, Eleftherios, Rude, Thomas, Toffaletti, Dena, Cox, Gary M., ...
The disaccharide trehalose has been found to play diverse roles, from energy source to stress protectant, and this sugar is found in organisms as diverse as bacteria, fungi, plants, and invertebrates...
Cch1 Mediates Calcium Entry in Cryptococcus neoformans and Is Essential in Low-Calcium Environments▿
Liu, Min, Du, Ping, Heinrich, Garrett, Cox, Gary M., Gelli, Angie
The ability of Cryptococcus neoformans to grow at the mammalian body temperature (37°C to 39°C) is a well-established virulence factor. Growth of C. neoformans at this physiological temperature...
Olszewski, Michal A., Noverr, Mairi C., Chen, Gwo-Hsiao, Toews, Galen B., Cox, Gary M., Perfect, John R., ...
Our objective was to determine the role of the cryptococcal virulence factor urease in pulmonary-to-central nervous system, dissemination, invasion, and growth. C. neoformans H99, the urease knockout...
Wormley, Floyd L., Perfect, John R., Steele, Chad, Cox, Gary M.
We evaluated cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses in mice given a pulmonary infection with a Cryptococcus neoformans strain engineered to produce the Th1-type cytokine gamma interferon (IFN-γ). Mice...
Byrnes, Edmond J., Li, Wenjun, Lewit, Yonathan, Perfect, John R., Carter, Dee A., Cox, Gary M., ...
In 2007, the first confirmed case of Cryptococcus gattii was reported in the state of North Carolina, USA. An otherwise healthy HIV negative male patient presented with a large upper thigh...