Genomics of Candida albicans

The polymorphic fungus Candida albicans is an opportunistic human pathogen of increasing medical importance, especially in immunocompromised individuals. C. albicans causes oral and vaginal candidiasis as well as disseminated infections in neutropenic patients. The genetic basis of virulence is assumed to be very complicated and seems to involve a lot of different genes. This fungus is a challenging organism for molecular genetic studies, because it is diploid, the sexual cycle is unknown, and it has a divergent codon usage. This review summarises current knowledge about the genomic and genetic variability of this fungal pathogen and outlines molecular techniques for functional analysis of gene expressions and proteins which are supposed virulence factors.