Identification of Flo11-like Adhesin in  Schizosaccharomyces pombe  and the Mechanism of Small-Molecule Compounds Mediating Biofilm Formation in Yeasts.
Fungal infection is initiated by the adhesion of pathogens to biotic and abiotic surfaces, with various manifestations including biofilm formation and invasive growth, etc. A previous report, though devoid of functional data, speculated that the  Schizosaccharomyces pombe  glycoprotein SPBPJ4664.02 could be the homology of  Saccharomyces cerevisiae  Flo11. Here, our studies with  S. pombe  substantiated the previously proposed speculation by (1) the deletion of  SPBPJ4664.02  attenuated biofilm formation and invasive growth in  S. pombe ; (2) the  S. pombe 's lack of  SPBPJ4664.02  could be complemented by expressing  S. cerevisiae flo11 . Furthermore, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and dodecanol were examined in  S. pombe  for their respective effects on biofilm formation. IAA and dodecanol at high concentrations could inhibit biofilm formation, whereas opposing effects were observed with low concentrations of these molecules. Mechanism studies with the  SPBPJ4664.02 Δ and  SPBPJ4664.02 Δ/ flo11  OE  versus the wild type have demonstrated that IAA or dodecanol might exert regulatory effects downstream of SPBPJ4664.02 in the signaling pathway for biofilm formation. Moreover, our research extrapolated to  Candida albicans  has pinpointed that IAA inhibited biofilm formation at high concentrations, consistent with the transcriptional downregulation of the biofilm-related genes. Dodecanol suppressed  C. albicans  biofilm formation at all the concentrations tested, in accord with the downregulation of biofilm-related transcripts.
Zhang YG, Zhang T, Lin L