Fungi - Candida albicans - Research News, Data, Publications & Aproaches - ERG11 Mutations - Telomeres - Sub-Telomeric Mutation Dynamics - Nuclear Biology & Nuclear Chemistry Aproaches - Nuclear Plasticity - Non-Elaborate Posts - Post 6

 

 Azole antifungals impose a potent oxidative burden on C. albicans cells, generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) that diffuse into the nucleus and induce base oxidation, strand breaks, and crosslinking. Guanine-rich subtelomeric DNA, including the ERG11 region, is particularly vulnerable to oxidative lesions such as 8-oxoguanine, which promotes GC→TA transversions. The cell’s redox state, modulated by nuclear NADPH pools and heme-dependent enzymes, influences repair fidelity and lesion bypass frequency. Consequently, chemical stress acts as both a mutagenic and selective force, driving the emergence of ERG11 variants that resist the very compounds that induced their genesis — a striking example of chemically guided microevolution.